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Library of The Theological Seminary — 


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PRESENTED BY 


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Conquering Cause 


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“For this cause I bow my knees unto the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’’— Paul. 


BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 
United Brethren in Christ 
U.B. Building - - Dayton, Ohio 


Copyright, 1924, by 
THE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 
United Brethren in Christ 


A WORD IN ADVANCE 


This little book has been prepared at the di- 
rection of the Conference Superintendents and 
the Board of Administration for the purpose of 
ceiving a better understanding of the United 
Brethren Church’s share in the conquering 
world-wide cause of Christ. 


The undersigned, who were asked to prepare 
this narrative, acknowledge their indebtedness 
to the executive heads of departments and in- 
stitutions for valuable material and hearty co- 
operation. 


‘It is hoped that through the reading and 
study ofthe chapters of this book in family 
circles, discussion groups, and mid-week and 
Sunday meetings there may come to every 
member of the Church an increased apprecia- 
tion of the magnitude of the work our denomin- 
ation is doing, and of the privilege of having a 
share in promoting it. 

Sree, tL.) LG EL 
Pie hs HCL RE 


nov 


Chapter Page 
A Word-ainsAdwance: wii Wate a 
I.) Christianity 's Conquering March ieee 
II) United. Brethren, Partners“in> Ghire 
Hianizinge-AMericas yeaa ke vane ee zy. 
III. Evangelizing our Share of the World 60 
TV... Christian .Education=i3.0 ews eee 87 
V. United Brethren in Philanthropic 
Work ir ea a, woe oe 115 
VI. Discovering our Possibilities as Part- 
TELS Oe She ALG ie tesa ne ee 135 


CONTENTS 


GLARE Re, 
CHRISTIANITY’S CONQUERING MARCH. 


MID the great number of rich and poor 
aN who gathered in the city of Bethlehem 

to be taxed during the reign of Caesar 
Augustus there arrived one for whom there was 
no room save ina stable. The multitude at that 
time seemed not to have given him a passing 
notice; yet his coming changed the course of 
history—it began a new era for the world. He 
was God’s Son, sent to save his Father’s world 
from the ruin of sin. 


He lived on earth but thirty-three years, and 
was then put to death on the cross; but on the 
third day, by the power of God, he came forth 
as the living, conquering Christ. 


Only afew of the “lost ‘ones’ he came “to 
save’ had been found when Christ returned to 
his Father; but with them and with all those 
who thereafter would believe on him, he estab- 
lished a blessed partnership by which his cause 
should transform: the whole world. 


On the day he went away Christ assembled 
his partners, and said, “Ye shall be witnesses 
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, 
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of 
the earth.” “Lo, Iam with you always.” 


8 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


“And they went forth, and preached every- 
where, the Lord working with them.’ Ten 
days later this little company in Jerusalem had 
increased to more than three thousand, then five 
thousand, and in a short time “multitudes both 
of men and women” were added. 


Within ten years this Conquering Cause, had 
broken the barrier between Jew and Gentile, 
and thus gave to us and all others who are not 
Jews the privilege of receiving life through 
Christ, and of becoming partners with him in 
passing on the good news. 


Jerusalem to Europe and Rome. 

Within a year after Christ had commissioned 
his partners the persecution which followed the 
martyrdom of Stephen scattered all of them 
save the apostles; but “they went everywhere 
preaching the Word.” We find them three hun- 
dred miles north of Jerusalem in the gireat hea- 
then city, Antioch, with its population of half 
a million. Here laymen won the first converts. 


It was a memorable day for Christianity when 
Barnabas found Paul and brought him to An- 
tioch to assist in evangelizing that great 
center. Doubtless no one who jostled these 
men on the crowded streets of the city realized 
the significance of the coming of this man of 
God, and that henceforth he would become the 
outstanding leader in the spread of Christianity. 
Much less did they realize that the abiding glory 


Christianity's Conquering March 9 


of their own city lay not in the magnificent 
marble-paved streets, lined with luxurious pal- 
aces and theatres, but that long after these 
shall have crumbled to dust, millions in all 
parts of the world will glory in the name “Chris- 
tian”, which they sneeringly gave to the de- 
spised followers of Jesus; for “the disciples 
were first called Chiristians in Antioch.” 

This city was the birth place not only of the 
Christian name but also of Christian missions. 
It was during a period of fasting and prayer 
that the church of Antioch was commanded of 
God to set apart Barnabas and Paul for special 
missionary service. Never did a ship carry more 
precious cargo than on that epochal day when 
these first missionaries sailed westward, out in- 
to the Gentile world with the Gospel of Christ. 

For twenty years’ Paul traveled throughout 
Asia Minor winning disciples. Then, crossing 
into Europe, he preached the Gospel in the coast 
cities, won. first converts, and _ established 
churches. At last we find him entering Rome, 
weighed down with prison chains, but in 
spite of them “preaching the Kingdom of God, 
and teaching those things which concern the 
Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence.” 

Rome became a great radiating center for the 
Gospel. Faithful witnesses carried the good 
news throughout Italy, Greece, Spain, and 
France. 


10 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Rome to England. 

The significant day for the English speaking 
world came in the spring of 597 when a little 
ship dropped anchor off the coast of England 
and the first missionaries began work among 
our pagan English ancestors. 


Some years before this date a merchant vessel 
from Rome had visited this land and had taken 
a number of fair-haired boys to be sold as slaves. 

In the crowd gathered at the Roman market 
place, was Gregory, a Christian man, who, on 
beholding the fair skinned slaves about to be 
sold, had compassion on them and on the coun- 
try from which they came. He inquired if the 
people of England had the Gospel, and was told 
that they were barbarians, worshipping heathen 
gods. His heart was deeply stirred and he then 
vowed to. do everything possible to send the 
Gospel to England. | 

Gregory himself was not permitted to go asa 
missionary, but he sent Augustine and forty 
others to England. This was the party that 
stepped from the lttle.ship on that eventful 
spring day. 

God had prepared the way for his messengers, 
for Ethelbert, the King of Southern England, 
had married a princess from France, who wor- 
shipped the true and living God. The influence 
of the queen doubtless made the king tolerant 
toward the new missionaries. 


Christianity’s Conquering March 11 


On a memorable day the king and many others 
met under a great oak tree, when Augustine 
preached Christ to them. The king was so ini- 
pressed that he told Augustine: 


“Your words and promises are fair, but because they 
are new to us, I cannot consent to them so far as to 
forsake that which I have so long observed. You have 
come from a far country to tell us what you believed 
as the truth. We desire not to harm you and so you 
may stay and preach to my people, and if any of them 
will believe, I will hinder him not.” 


The missionaries were greatly encouraged. 
and it was not long before ten thousand converts 
had been baptized, the king himself being one 
of them. Then the old temple in which the king 
had worshipped heathen gods was changed irito 
a Christian church. Schools were opened and 
Christianity gradually became firmly established 
in the British Isles. 


England to Germany. 

The hearts of the early Christians in England 
glowed with zeal to pass on to others the good 
news they had received. Messengers were sent 
to different parts of Northern Europe. 

In 715, one of the Christian homes in England 
gave Germany her great missionary apostle— 
Boniface. He had been offered many positions 
of honor in England, upon all of which he turned 
his back and went forth to a life of forty years 
of sacrificial service for the evangelization of 
Germany, and finally to a martyr’s death. 


12 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


On account of persecution and the destruction 
of property, for a brief time he was forced to 
return to England. His appeal on behalf of our 
Teutonic forefathers brought a great response, 
and “many earnest and scholarly” men and 
women went to Germany as missionaries. They 
established churches and schools, and in the 
face of hardships won thousands to Christ. 


Henry van ‘Dyke in his book, “The Blue 
Flower”, gives a thrilling incident connected 
with the preaching of Boniface and the over- 
throw of human sacrifices in Germany. It reads 
like the contest on Mount Carmel between Eli- 
jah and Baal worshippers. 

The death of Boniface at the hands of a sav- 
age tribe, to which he had gone with the message 
of life when he was above seventy years of age, 
added another martyr to the illustrious army of 
men and women in all ages who counted not 
their lives dear unto themselves, that they 
might, by an unbroken chain, encircle the world 
with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 


Protestant Christianity Planted in America. 


The material and spiritual comforts of Amer- 
ica, and the rapid changes which are taking 
place, make it easy to forget the self-sacrificing 
labors. of the early Christians of our country, 
and the debt we owe to the churches of other 
lands which sent scores of missionaries to the 


United States from 1700 to 1775, thus making 


_Christianity’s Conquering March 13 


possible the uninterrupted advance of Christian- 
ity till it reached our own land. 

Men with an unquenchable love for God, 
and seeking only to promote His cause, came 
on their own initiative; and others were sent 
and financially supported by the churches of 
Holland, Germany, Scotland and England. They 
came to plant the princples of vital Christianity 
in the New World, and to help lay the founda- 





oe PROSAKE a 


e 








The Gospel’s journey from Jerusalem to America. 


tion of a new commonwealth in which equal 
civil and religious aa ies were to be en- 
joyed by all. 

Spiritual Destitution. While the Pilgrims, 
Puritans, Huguenots, Walloons, Quakers and 
others came for religious purposes, hundreds of 
other settlements were formed without any re- 
gard for spiritual things; and some who had 
lofty aims when they landed, in their struggle 


14 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


to develop and possess the vast physical re- 
sources about them, utterly neglected to estab- 
lish churches and schools. In many places there 
were gracious revivals, but in many other 
places things went speedily from bad to worse 
A trustworthy observer wrote: | 

“The spiritual state of the people is so wretched as 
to cause us to shed tears in abundance. The young 
people have grown up without any knowledge of reli- 
gion.” 

Missionaries Sent to America. The Chris- 
tian leaders of England saw that something 
must be done to help evangelize America, so in 
1701 they formed “The Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.’ This 
society raised funds, and in 1702 sent George 
Keith and John Talbott to the United States 
as its first missionaries. Keith traveled from 
Maine to South Carolina on a tour of inspec- 
tion, and reported, “Many never so much as 
heard a sermon preached before we came.” 


The English churches continued to send more 
and more workers until the Revolution, when 
they were supporting seventy-seven missionar- 
ies in the United States. 


Irish Presbyterians, the churches of Scotland, 
and the Moravians sent workers also. David 
Brainard, in his heroic work for the Indians, 
was supported in part by funds from the churches 
of Scotland. The Christians of Holland sent 


Christianity’s Conquering March 15 


and supported thirty-nine missionaries in Am- 
erica during the eighteenth century. 


Otterbein and Five Others Volunteer. The 
appalling need for missionary work among 
Dutch and German settlements of the New 
World was presented to the churches and 
schools of Germany and Switzerland by Michael 
Schlatter, who had investigated conditions in 
Pennsylvania and New York. A committee in 
Holland had’ authorized Schlatter to secure six 
missionaries At one time he thought he had 
found the men, but, when the test came for 
them to leave their country, they failed. After 
months of vain search, Schlatter made a second 
visit to the University of Herborn. Six of the 
ablest young men then volunteered, the leader 
of this band being none other than Philip 
William Otterbein, later founder of the United 
Brethren Church. 


We can imagine that there was a great stir 
among the students, neighbors, and friends of 
these young men. The mother of Otterbein, 
on hearing the news, hastened to a quiet place in 
prayer and thanksgiving. She then came forth 
strengthened, and, taking William by the hand, 
said: 

“Go, and the Lord bless thee and keep thee, and with 
much grace direct thy steps. On earth I may not see 
thy face again, but go!” 


16 Partners in the Conquering Cause 





-Philip William Otterbein, missionary, pastor, founder 
and first Bishop of the United Brethren Church. 


Christianity’s Conquering March TA 


The churches of Holland had formed a so- 
ciety to support these new recruits in America. 
They agreed to pay their traveling expenses, 
and to give each a salary of one hundred and 
eighty dollars a year until the churches in the 
New World could assume their full support. 
After a voyage of three and a half months, 
these missionaries arrived in New York, July 
27, 1752. They then began to invest their lives 
in Eastern Pennsylvania and Maryland for the 
transformation and uplift of the sturdy German 
settlers. 

Thus, because of the faithful partnership and 
help of the churches of England, Scotland, Hol- 
land, Germany and other lands, America has 
been put under everlasting obligations to God, 
and to the needy wherever found. 

Chaotic Conditions Follow War. Alarming 
conditions followed the Revolutionary War. 
The war had reduced the strength of the peo- 
ple, and there was a marked decline in the 
spiritual life of the churches. No extensive re- 
vivals had taken place in the forty years from 
1757 to 1797. 

To make matters worse, infidelity, begotten 
in France chiefly on account of an impotent, 
corrupt church, aided also by the French revol- 
ution, became aggressive in the United States. 
Many infidel clubs were formed. Large sums 
were raised in France to produce infidel books 


18 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


and leaflets for circulation in America. The 
avowed purpose of the movement was to stamp 
out Christianity. 


Some of the leading statesmen and scholars 
were among its advocates. The movement was 
taken into colleges, and ere long but few stu- 
dents could be found in Yale, Harvard, Wil- 
liams, and Princeton, who would publicly con- 
fess faith in God. 

It was a corrupt, lawless, appalling time. 
A spirit of revolt prevailed widely, on account 
of the spread of French ideas, which declared 
“moral obligations to be a shackle imposed by 
bigotry and priest-craft.’ The revolutionary 
spirit, which was of service during the war, be- 
came a imenace in the years that followed. 

With our lofty conception of Washington, it 
is difficult to believe how he was then maligned 
and abused, and his administration criticized. 
Washington himself said he was “misrepresen- 
ted in such exaggerated and indecent terms as 
could scarcely be applied to Nero, or even to a 
common pickpocket.” 

In 1796 a statesman and personal friend 
wrote to Washington: 

“Our affairs seem to lead to some crisis. I am more 
uncertain than during the war. 

Washington replied: 

“Your sentiments, that we are drawing rapidly to a 
crisis, accord with mine. What the event will be is 
beyond my foresight.” 


Christianity's Conquering March 19 


The general assembly of the Presbyterian 
church which convened in 1798, took a survey 
of the situation, and sent to its pastors the fol- 
lowing: 

“We desire to direct your awakened attention to that 
bursting storm which threatens to sweep before it the 


religious principles, institutions, and morals of our peo- 
ple. 


“We perceive with pain and fearful apprehension a 
visible and prevailing impiety, and contempt for the 
laws and the institutions of religion, and an abounding 
infidelity.” 

Dark and discouraging was the outlook. 
Some predicted that Christianity itself would 


altogether disappear within two generations. 


Man’s Extremity, God’s Opportunity. The 
work before the Christian leaders was.extreme- 
ly difficult. The population of the United States 
in 1800 was 5,308,483. The entire Protestant 
church membership then numbered but 365,000, 
or less than seven percent of the population. 
The churches were small, widely separated, and 
without equipment. They were even short of 
Bibles, for the British had refused to allow the 
English Bible to be printed in the United States 
up to the time of the Revolution. Religious 
books and tracts were very scarce. 

What could be done under such circum- 
stances to head off the tidal wave of infidelity, 
and establish righteousness, confidence, peace 
and prosperity ? 


20 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Man’s extremity became God’s opportunity. 
Christian leaders, inspired of God, came to the 
front from unlooked-for quarters in different 
States. The unsettled condition of the whole 
country appealed to them as an opportunity to 
preach the living Christ, and to start a new cru- 
sade in behalf of vital Christianity. 

Awakened Christians summoned all to fast- 
ing and prayer—to fast once every week, or 
once a month, or once a quarter, or at least an- 
nually. 


In localities widely separated, “a half hour 
at sundown on Saturday night, and a half hour 
at sunrise on Sunday morning, were devoted to 
special prayers for divine blessing.” 

Powerful Revivals Sweep Over the Country. 
God heard and answered. Scores of pastors 
and young people were baptized with an evan- 
gelistic passion. Timothy Dwight, president of 
Yale College, presented Christ and his claims 
to the students with such clearness and power 
that many were converted, and infidel clubs 
were abandoned. 

One of the first “springs” of the powerful 
streams of salvation which flowed through the 
country from 1798 to 1810, was opened by the 
young people of Torringford, Conn., in 1798. 
“These young people met weekly at the various 
farmhouses to sing and pray and talk about 
their religious life. Soon the attendance in- 


Christianity’s Conquering March eal 


creased so that the commodious living rooms of 
that day would not hold all the young people 
who came. So the meeting-house was opened 
to them, and this ‘event so extraordinary’ soon 
caught the elders with its contagion, and a 
powerful revival resulted.” 


Revivals broke out in a score or more places 
throughout New England, New York, and New 
Jersey. Samuel J. Mills, the hero of the hay- 
stack prayer meeting, the originator of the 
world-wide missionary movement of America, 
and a score of other young men who became fa- 
mous Christian leaders were converted in these 
meetings, and they carried the evangelist fires 
into the colleges. 

Probably the greatest impetus to this mighty 
quickening from God, known as “the revival of 
1800 began win, Kentucky; “a remote “frontier, 
where the severest hardships had been experi- 
enced. Here, the latter part of the year 1799, 
and during 1800, two brothers, William McGee, 
a Presbyterian minister, and John McGee, a 
Methodist minister, joined hands in holding 
meetings at Red River, Muddy River, Gaspee 
River, Cambridge, and Cobbin. These meet- 
ings, held in the open air, lasted as a rule 
less than a week. They were the first religious 
“camp meetings” held in America. At Cam- 
bridge, the meeting continued one week and 
“hundreds fell to earth as dead men under the 


22 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


preaching.” Awakened Christians and sinners 
came from all over the state of Kentucky, and 
from other states to Cobbin.. As many as 
twenty thousand were said to be present, and 
“thousands fell as if slain in battle.” 


During the years from 1800 to 1810, the revi- 
val wave moved through North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio and into Indiana. 


United Brethren Strong Promoters. 

Pioneer United Brethren. preachers had a 
large share in the revival. Otterbein, Boehm, 
Geeting, Newcomer, Zeller, Troyer, Pfrimmer, 
Benedum, Draksel, Mayer, Berger, Crum, and 
other United Brethren ministers did much, both 
in preparing the churches for this revival and 
in winning large numbers to Christ in Mary- 
land, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. 

Otterbein, Draksel and others held a great 
meeting at Samuel Baker’s in Maryland, June 
3-5, 1797, concerning which one present wrote, 
“The congregation was uncommonly large. We 
had an exceedingly glorious time; a great num- 
ber, both males and females, young people and 
hoary-headed sinners, were convicted, and some 
happily converted to God.” 

The Fathers of our church prayed for, worked 
for, expected conversions constantly and God 
rewarded their expectation. 


Christianity s Conquering March 23 


At a sacramental meeting held at Antietam, 
Otterbein preached the sermon and conducted 
the communion service. ‘The historian says: 
“At the close Otterbein invited all who desired 
the prayers of God’s people to come forward 
and give him their hands. Many responded 
weeping.” 


Among those converted that day was Daniel 
Troyer who was one of the first missionaries to 
enter Ohio. 


Christian Newcomer, who later became a 
great Bishop of the United Brethren Church, 
was one of the strongest promoters of the revi- 
val. Wherever he journeyed over vast areas, 
the power of God was present. Concerning a 
meeting he held at John Bonnet’s in Westmore- 
land County, Pennsylvania, on November 10, 
1803, Newcomer wrote in his journal: 


“T had not spoken long before. some of my hearers 
fell to the floor. Others stood trembling, and cried so 
loud that my voice could not well be heard.” 


Of another meeting at Swopes, he wrote: 


“Here the power of God was displayed in a most 
marvelous manner. The whole congregation was moved 
and seemed to wave like corn before a mighty wind. 
Most stubborn sinners fell instantly before the power 
of God. The meeting continued the whole night.” 


Thus, during the opening years of the past 
century, Christians, acting as partners with 
Christ, through prayer, fasting and courageous 
witnessing, experienced a powerful revival. !n- 


24 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


fidelity and lawlessness were driven back. Christ 
and His cause were exalted. 


Vast Areas Providentially Opened. Through 
the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the vast terri- 
tory between the Mississippi River and the 
Rocky Mountains was opened for the first time 
to Protestant missions. 


The explorations of Lewis and Clark brought 
to light the Oregon country in 1805; and, chiefly 
through the labors of home missionaries, this 
great Northwest became a part of the United 
States. Protestant missions thus had an open 
door from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 


A stream of emigrants ever increasing began 
to move’ westward. In 1800 there were but five 
hundred thousand persons west of the Alleghe- 
nies; in 1812 there were a million, and in 1830, 
four million. 


Planning for an Immediate Advance. ‘These 
Christian leaders did not exhaust themselves 
by defending the Bible against infidelity, nor 
even in soul-winning as an end in itself. In 
this, they were far-sighted. 


They saw that the best way to meet infidelity 
was to get the church constantly to show forth 
the miracle-working power of Christ in regener- 
ating lives, and in applying the principles of the 
gospel to all relationships. They saw that, if 
the new recruits were to grow, and not back- 


Christianity's Conquering March eo 


slide, they must at once become actual partners 
in the work of the Lord. 


As an immediate outgrowth of the great revi- 
val, the spirit of missionary activity took a firm 
hold on the churches of the East, and they did 
three notable things: 

First, they organized seven State missionary societies. 

Second, they sent Samuel J. Mills, the hero of the 
haystack prayer-meeting, on a tour of survey and in- 
spection west of the Alleghenies. They desired to know 
the exact facts. 

Third, they formed three national reinforcing agen- 
cies: The American Bible Society in 1816, the Ameri- 
can Sunday School Union in 1817, and the American 
Tract Society in 1825. 

Survey and Inspection. During the years 
from 1812 to 1815, Mills journeyed through 
what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and 
Alabama. As he went, he preached and formed 
Bible and tract societies, counseled with gover- 
nors and other leading men, and gathered ac- 
curate data of the moral and religious condi- 
tions of the people. 

Mills then made the first official report to the 
churches of the East on spiritual conditions 
west of the Allegheny Mountains. It gave many 
details and made a profound impression, not 
only in this country, but also in Great Britain. 


“The whole country from Lake Erie to the Gulf of 
Mexico is as the valley of the shadow of death. Dark- 
ness rests upon it. Only here and there a few rays of 


26 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


gospel light pierce through the awful gloom. This vast 
country contains more than a million inhabitants, and 
their number is increasing every year by a mighty flood 
of emigrants.” ‘ 

Twelve preachers from Massachusetts volun- 


teered at once, and they were sent immediately 
into the West. The Connecticut Missionary 
Society sent out 200 missionaries within the 
next ten years. “The American Home Mis- 





The compass used by Samuel J. Mills on his 
missionary journeys. 


sionary Society,” an interdenominational agen- 
cy, was formed to raise money and to send out 
workers. This society, in 1829, sent sixty-two 
missionaries to Ohio, eighteen to Indiana, 
twelve to Illinois, ten to Michigan, and nine- 
teen to other Western States and ‘Territories. 
Others followed from year to year. Severai de- 
nominations then began to form Home Mission- 
ary societies. 


COAL LHR 


UNITED BRETHREN PARTNERS IN 
CHRISTIANIZING AMERICA. 


HE United Brethren Church was born 
at the same time that the nation itself 
was established. It has the distinction 

of being the first native American Church. 

Strong leaders in the German Reformed, Men- 
nonite, and other communions, who had experi- 
enced a deep work of grace in their own hearts, 
were drawn together in conducting large evan- 
gelistic meetings. 

These men—Otterbein, Geeting, Newcomer, 
Zeller, and others—and the thousands they won 
to Christ, felt called of God to band together to 
pray for and work for a church membership 
that would be spiritual, evangelistic, and practi- 
cal, as the only way to save individual souls, 
and to lay the foundations of righteousness, 
peace, and prosperity for the nation. 

The inspiring story of their self-sacrificing 
labors in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, 
from 1760 to the time of the first General Con- 
ference, in 1815, will never be fully told. 

Advance Westward. Far-sighted United 
Brethren preachers, with a passion for souls, 
early caught the vision and heard the call 
from the West. A number of them, having 


oN Partners in the Conquering Cause 


crossed the Alleghenies into the wilderness of 
the Ohio Valley, had unfurled the United Breth- 
ren Banner in Ohio and Indiana before Mills 
arrived on his famous missionary tours. They 
were at work, without pledged support from 
any source. 

Andrew Zeller, later a Bishop in the United 
Brethren Church, planted the seeds of the king- 
dom in the Miami Valley at Germantown in 
1806. About the same time, George Benedum 
began preaching in the Scioto Valley. Jacob 
Baulus and Alexander Biddle were the heroic 
pioneers in Northern and Eastern Ohio. Henry 
Kumler, Sr., Joseph Hoffman and others fol- 
lowed. 


The region west of Ohio was entered in 1808 
by John G. Pfrimmer. John C. McNamar, Wil- 
liam Davis, Walton C. Smith, and John Dun- 
ham, and others helped to lay the foundations 
of United Brethren Churches in different parts 
of Indiana and Illinois. 

Among the first from the United Brethren 
Church to preach the Gospel in the new empire 
west of the Mississippi River were John Burns, 
A. A. Sellers, John Everhart and Henry Kum- _ 
ler, Jr. : 


Thus, hundreds of preaching places were established 
in the West, and ten new annual conferences sprang 
into existence before 1850, chiefly as the result of this 
individual missionary work—the Miami, in 1810; the 
Muskingum, in 1818; the Scioto, in 1825; the Indiana, 


Christianizing America 29 


in 1830; the Sandusky, in 1834; the Wabash, in 1835; 
the Illinois and the Iowa, in 1845; the St. Joseph, in 
1846, and the White River, in 1847. 


Proclaiming the Gospel by the Printed Page. 

From the days of Moses to Paul messages of 
God were written and published. In every new 
advance of the church, the truth in print has 
accompanied the preaching of the Gospel. 

The United Brethren Church, in 1834, through 
its General Conference, resolved, ‘“‘to establish 
a religious paper, to be controlled by a board 
of trustees, appointed by the General Confer- 
ences, 


The first issue of the Religious Telescope 
‘was sent forth from a United Brethren printing 
press in December, 1834. All the conferences 
and members of the church became partners in 
the proclamation of the truth by printer’s ink. 

The increasing power of this agency will be 
set forth in a subsequent chapter. 


First Missionary Offerings. The first mis- 
sionary gift on record was made by Mathias 
Kessler, of Frederick, Maryland. He gave to 
Bishop Newcomer thirty dollars in 1813 for the 
preachers in Ohio. 

Collections began to be lifted during the an- 
nual conference sessions. 

A little later it dawned on the leaders that 
all church members ought to be given the priv- 


30 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


ilege of contributing for the extension of this 
cause. Accordingly, in 1816 the Miami Con- 
ference started a missionary .fund, and in 1818 
the original Hagerstown Conference, which at 
that time represented nearly all the churches of 
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, took ac- 
tion “to raise a fund to supplement the small 
salaries of poor preachers who preach in the 
frontier and western countries.” | 


Conference Organization and Activity. 

It became apparent, as the years passed, that, 
without a better plan for placing missionaries 
and a better method of enlisting all for their 
support, the churches could neither develop as © 
they should, nor meet the growing needs and 
opportunities about them. . Accordingly, from 
1838 to 1850, fourteen annual conferences organ- 
ized what they called “Conference Missionary 
Societies.” Missionary sermons were to be 
preached, and offerings lifted to aid the weaker 
charges and to send missionaries to new settle- 
ments. 

Some of the churches began to give system- 
atically to missions. The Otterbein church, the 
mother congregation in Baltimore, was paying, 
$8 a month for missionary purposes as early as 
1846. 


In addition to supporting work within their 
own territory, the representatives of the churches 


Christianizing America St 


of Pennsylvania and Maryland, in annual 
session in 1836, sent and supported Jacob Erb 
on a mission to Canada; and the Sandusky 
Conference, in 1849, sent Stephen Lee as its 
representative to Michigan. 

The work kept growing. In 1853 there were 
eighty-seven conference missionaries at work. 
During that year they received 3293 new mem- 
bers into the mission churches and had a net 
gain above all losses of 2394 for the year. 

There has been a rapid growth in conference 
missions right through the years up to the present 
time. Many of the strongest churches of the 
denomination were at some time aided by a 
conference missionary society. This work has 
been a strong factor in building our denomi- 
nation. Three hundred and twelve conference 
missionaries are now at their tasks’ in thirty- 
one annual conferences. 

All who contribute to meet the benevolent 
budget in local churches are partners in this 
good work. 


Courage and Achievements of the Pioneers. 
Of the unselfish helpfulness, power in prayer, 
passion for souls, hardships, heroism and achieve- 
ments of the pioneer preachers, let One para- 
graph from Edward Eggleston, famous as the 
author of “The Hoosier School Master” and 
“The Circuit Rider,’ who grew up in the midst 
of the wild scenes, suffice: 


32 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


“More than any one else, the early circuit preachers 
brought order out of this chaos. In no other class was 
the real heroic element so finely displayed. How do I 
remember the forms and weather-beaten visages of the 
old preachers, whose constitutions had conquered star- 
vation and exposure—who had survived swamps, alli- 
gators, Indians, highway robbers and bilious fevers! 
How was my boyish soul tickled with their anecdotes 
of rude experience! How was my imagination wrought 
upon by the recital of their hair-breadth escapes! How 
was my heart set afire by their contagious religious en- 
thusiasm, so that at eighteen years of age I bestrode 
the saddle-bags myself and laid upon a feeble frame 
the heavy burden of emulating their toils!” 


Splendid Progress Through Fifty Years. 
Soul-winning was the outstanding feature of 
United Brethren preachers from the beginning. 

From the days of Otterbein down to 1850, in 
their zeal for evangelism, many preachers gave 
scant attention to organizing and training the 
new recruits. The transition from the German 
to English was slow. Chiefly as a result of 
these things, thousands’ who were won to 
Christ by United Brethren workers found their 
way into other churches. 


Notwithstanding this, the membership of the United 
Brethren Church increased eight fold from 1800 to 1850, | 
growing during that time from approximately 5,000 to. 
40,000. The population of the United States increased 
about four and one-half fold from 1800 to 1850, grow- 
ing from 5,308,483 to 23,192,000. The entire Protestant 
Church membership in the United States multiplied 
nearly ten fold during the same time, increasing from 


365,000 in 1800 to 3,530,000 in 1850. 


Christianizing America 38 


New Tasks and Problems. A double task 
confronted the churches about the middle of 
the past century: first, the training of its min- 
isters, and the organizing, training, and equip- 
ping of the churches; second, the necessity of 
increasing evangelistic efforts, and starting ac- 
tive missionary. work on the frontier and in for- 
eign lands. They heard the call, “Lengthen thy 
cords and strengthen thy stakes.” 


Denominational Societies Formed. 


The situation could not be met by the con- 
ferences acting independently. It called ior 
concerted denomination-wide action. 


After prayerful, earnest study of the problem 
of intensive training, men of God launched into 
the difficult and far-reaching work of starting 
our schools of higher education, and of forming 
a general agency for the promotion of Sunday 
School work, and later Christian Endeavor 
work. The significance of all these training 
agencies will be set forth in a subsequent chap- 
teks 


As for evangelism and active missionary 
work, the pastors and bishops were distressed 
on account of the unreached multitudes about 
them. While the Protestant membership had 
increased ten-fold from 1800 to 1850, the num- 
ber of persons not identified with any church, 


34 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Catholic or Protestant, had increased from ap- 
proximately 4,000,000 to 18,000,000. 

Then, too, nothing as yet. had been done by 
United Brethren to give the Gospel to millions 
in pagan lands. 


These arresting facts brought an irresistible 
appeal to the ministers and laymen, and they 
began to move on ¢heir own initiative. The 
Lancaster Circuit, East Pennsylvania Confer- 
ence, J. Fohl, pastor, was the first to take de- 
cisive action. In 1852 this circuit reported a’ 
‘cash offering to start a mission in the Oregon 


country. 

One member gave $1; one $3; four each $5; six each 
$10; one $15; five each $25; one family $40; the pastor 
and five others each $50; and one named Jacob Strickler 
$65? total $629... J : : 

This practical demonstration of interest 


aroused other churches, so that during the open- 
ing months of 1853, T. J. Connor and Jeremiah 
Kenoyer were sent as the first United Breth- 
ren missionaries to Oregon. 

Local and conference Foreign Missionary 
Societies began to be organized also, and strong 
appeals were made to the delegates of the ap- 
proaching General Conference to provide an 
effective missionary agency through which 
churches might establish missions on the fron-— 
tier and in the foreign field. 

The Home, Frontier and Foreign Missionary 
Society Formed. The delegates to the General 


Cyt 


Christiamzing America 5 


Conference which convened in May, 1853, were 
ready for action. “The Home, Frontier and 
Foreign Missionary Society,” was then formed. 
Its constitution, aims, and methods were so 
wise and comprehensive that, without change, it 
served the local churches for aggressive mission- 
ary work for fifty-two years, until 1905, when 
“The Home Missionary Society” and “The For- 
eign Missionary Society” were formed as sepa- 
rate agencies. 


The ablest leaders of the church devoted 
their best thought and energies in promoting 
both Home and Foreign Missions. 

John C. Bright, whose zeal and wise planning 
had done much to produce the conviction 
throughout the Church that a general mission- 
ary society should be formed, was elected its 
general secretary. Secretary Bright first made 
a survey of what the annual conference mis- 
sionary societies were accomplishing, and he 
reported the statistics to the church at large. 
He made a careful study of the needs of the 
frontier fields in order to place wisely the mis- 
sionary forces. 

Secretary Bright then threw his whole soul 
into the task of inspiring and informing the 
whole church in behalf of extending the Con- 
quering Cause of Christ on the frontier and in 
foreign lands. As he went from annual confer- 
ence to annual conference, and from local 


36 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


church to local church, he mightily stirred the 
entire denomination. A new era in soul win- 
ning and in missions began to dawn. 

Mr. Bright strongly emphasized the fact that 


instead of multiplying paid agents to collect 
money for this cause, missions should be re- 


& A The Life Giving Tree for Ff 
: Our Land, Z 
























































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== 


ram 


























































































































4| THE CHURCH IN AMERICA NOURISHED 
BY THE ANNUAL CONFERENCES, THE 
HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, AND THE 
CHURCH ERECTION SOCIETY. 





garded as the essential business of every pastor 
and every church. A denominational mission- 
ary consciousness began to take hold of the 
members of the church. | 


New Mission Fields Entered. In 1853 Henry Kum- 
ler, Jr. and J. Terrell were sent to start a mission in 
the southwestern part of Missouri. 


Christianizsing America 37 


W. A. Cardwell was the first United Brethren 
preacher to enter Kansas. He began work on his own 
initiative. ; 

In June, 1854, the Home, Frontier and Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society sent to Kansas, S. S. Snyder, as its 
first representative to the “Sun Flower State.” Six 
months later the Board employed W. A. Cardwell, 
who through many years, did a remarkable work in 
starting mission churches. Missionary work was started 
in Nebraska in 1855 by Henry Kumler, Jr., and J. P. 
Landon, followed by J. M. Dosh and G. Swain. Min- 
nesota and Tennessee were entered in 1855, J. W. Ful- 
kerson and E. Clow being -sent as the first missionaries 
to Minnesota, and John Reubush as the first ambassa- 
dor to Tennessee. 


United Brethren preachers from Illinois made evangel- 
istic tours into Wisconsin during the early 50’s. In 
1857 G. G. Nickey was sent to Wisconsin by the Board, 
to organize the scattered churches into a, conference. 
During that year 554 members were received. 

Missionary work was opened in California in 1858 by 
israck oloanvs ), Lroxel,.D. ‘Thompson, »J..Dallarhide, 
and later Bishop D. Shuck followed. 

Colorado was entered in 1869—St. Clair Ross being 
the first messenger sent by the Board. Others who 
‘entered early were E. J. Lamb, W. H. McCormick and 
A. Hartzell. 

J. M. Linsey was the United Brethren pioneer mes- 
senger, who entered Oklahoma in 1889, the year the 
territory was opened for occupancy. He was followed 
hie wei Doub. ss LH." Darr and others.? ~ Later. the 
Home Board followed United Brethren members to 
Florida where a home mission conference has been 
organized. 

Thus, the seeds of United Brethren missionary work 
were planted over a wide area. 


The Church Erection Society Organized. The 
dominating impulse for many years was to open 


38 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


new missions and to preach, and win as many 
souls. as possible, without serious thought of 
building aggressive, spiritual, well-trained local 
churches as propagating centers. 

In some places the efforts of the home mis- 
sionary, unaided by a fund to help secure a 
church building, proved abortive. 

In starting a new mission, the leaders learned 
from experience that attention must be given 
early to secure a suitable building and facilities 
for teaching and training, or permanent results 
would not follow. 

To meet the imperative need for a building 
fund, the Church Erection Society was organ- 
ized in 1869, and from that time forward Home 
Missions and Church Erection have worked 
hand-in-hand the one helping to provide the 
missionary pastor and the other the church 
building. Through the active work of these 
agencies a decided impetus was given to enlarg- 
ing and making permanent the work. 

The Women’s Missionary Association Form- 
ed. The women of the church caught the vi- 
sion of the need in this and other lands and be- 
gan organizing their forces in 1872. The 
Women’s Missionary Association was formed 
in 1875. The work of this Association has been 
conducted with increasing . success right 
through the years. It has been a strong educa- 
tional and promotional agency, giving mission- 


Christianizing America 39 


ary vision and training to women, girls, and 
children, and increasing financial support to all 
the missionary activities of the church. 


For many years this Association sent out and 
directed its own missionaries, but later, for the 
unity and efficiency of the entire work, it 
merged with the Home Board and the Foreign 
Board, in the administration of missions. 


The Women’s Missionary Association has 
thus been a splendid partner in extending the 
cause of Christ, and it is ready to cooperate in 
any comprehensive plan that will make the 
United Brethren Church more efficient in con- 
fronting lost souls with the living Christ. 


Another League Forward. During the years 
from 1850 to 1880 our country passed through 
the controversy on slavery, the Civil War, and 
thesireconstruction “period, “For “the ‘United 
Brethren Church, as we have seen, this was 
made a time of aggressive, church-wide, organ- 
ized activity. The denomination was begin- 
ning to act as a unit in extending the cause of 


Christ. 


The population of the United States increased dur- 
ing the period 1850 to 1880 from 23,191,876 to 50,155,- 
783, a gain of 116 percent. 

The entire Protestant membership increased from 
3,530,000 to 10,066,000, a gain of 185 percent. 

The United Brethren Church increased ‘during the 
same period from 40,000 to 157,835, a gain of 295 per- 
cent. 


40 Partners m the Conquering Cause 


Enlarged Demands for Home Missions and 
Church Erection. 


Conditions became more complex. Startling 
changes took place during the decades from 
1880 to 1920. Encouraging as was the growth 
of the Protestant Churches from 1850 to 1880, 
the fact that the number of persons not mem- 
bers of any church had increased during the 
thirty years from 18,000,000 to approximately 
34,000,000 called for serious thinking, earnest 
praying, and better action. 


Other factors, in addition to the large num- 
bers unreached, entered, and made the problem 
more complex. Millions of immigrants from 
many different lands with different tongues, 
found their way into the United States; the 
rapid growth of the cities; the transition in the 
rural districts; the migrations of the colored 
people to the North and the Spanish speaking 
people to the Northeast; and the unsettled con- 
ditions following the World War, all combined 
to make the tasks of Home Missions, Church 
Frection, and Evangelism more difficult, and 
vastly more urgent. 


The Situation Surveyed. To learn the exact 
status a competent interdenominatignal com- 
mittee made a careful study of many phases of 
life and work. : 


Christianizing America 4] 


This committee made its report in 1920, two 
paragraphs of which show the menacing situa- 
tion: 

“The United States of America has been invaded by 
three enemy armies which threaten our national exist- 
ence: First, there is within our borders an army of 
five and one-half million illiterates above nine years of 
age; second, there is an army of more than fifty mil- 
lion people above nine years of age who are not identi- 
filed with any church—Jewish, Catholic or Protestant; 
third, there is an army of twenty-seven million Protestant 
children and youth, under twenty-five years of age, 
who are not enrolled in any Sunday School or other 
institution of religious training. 

“These three interlocking armies constitute a triple 
alliance which threatens the life of our democracy. 
Patriotism demands that every loyal American enlist 
for service and wage three great campaigns—a cam- 
paign of Americanization, a campaign of Adult Evangel- 
ism, andacampaign for the Spiritual Nurture of Child- 
hood.” 

Home Missions Standardizes Its Work. ‘To 
meet the diversified needs a tremendous respon- 
sibility came to the churches, and especially to 
the Home Missionary and the Church Erection 
societies. Representatives of the various denom- 
inations sought to divide up the work in certain 
areas so as to avoid duplication. Our Home 
Missionary Society cooperated in this united 
effort. In addition to enlarging the work in 
places already occupied, the Society took a share 
of the state of Montana as ours to evangelize. 
Mission work was opened at Carlyle, Montana, 


in 1910, and was soon extended to other centers. 


42 Partners im the Conquering Cause 


We now have in this field twenty-five organ- 
ized, growing churches. 


The directors of our Home Missionary So- 
ciety saw that something more definite and com- 
prehensive must be done than was hitherto un- 
dertaken to cope with the situation. Accord- 





Home Mission church at Great Falls, Montana, made 
possible by the City Standard Plan. It has out- 
grown its quarters and awaits the arrival 
of Church Erection. 


ingly, the Society adopted a plan to advance 
along four lines: to cooperate with Conference 
leaders in developing mission work within their 
bounds; to put into operation a_ standard 
plan for city missions; to strengthen the rural 
churches; and to start Spanish American mis- 
sionary work in New Mexico. _ } 


Christianizing America 43 


First. To Cooperate with Conference Lead- 
ers. By this cooperative plan the work con- 
ducted by the General Board and the work con- 
ducted by the conference agencies in the same 
conference have been unified and developed 
along approved lines. This has resulted in 
speeding up self-support, and increasing the ef- 
ficiency of the missionary pastors and churches. 


Second. The Standard Plan for City Mis- 
sions. The girowth of the cities in the United 
States has been phenomenal. They now con- 
tain over half the population of the country. 
Their poverty and their luxury; their sins and 
wicked organizations, and their opportunity for 
service and for leadership, present a challeng- 
ing call to the Protestant churches to give them 
the pure Word of Life. The spirit and message 
of the United Brethren Church are needed in 
the cities. 


In order to enter with expectation of success 
the Board requires: 


(1) An approved location. There must be a real 
field for Church work with the prospect of the mis- 
sion, when established, becoming a radiating center. 
(2) Suitable church building and equipment. Unless 
the community or the Church Erection Society are 
willing to provide the bui'ding, the Home Board will 
not enter. (3) An efficient pastor. It is recognized 
that a wise, tactful, constructive leader is necessary for 
the development of a successful church in the complex 
life of the modern city. 


4 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


The Home Missionary Society will enlarge 
its important city work as rapidly as _ the 
church will furnish the men and money to do 
the work on a winning basis. 


Operating this standard plan for city muis- 
sions, the Board entered upon work in Great 
Falls, Montana; Rockford, Illinois; Fort Wayne, 
Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Fairmount, West 
Virginia; Greenville, Tennessee; Evansville, 
Indiana; Lincoln, Nebraska; Indianapolis, In- 
diana; Canton, Ohio; and Long Beach, Califor- 
nia. Many of these churches have had inspir- 
ing success. This city work ought to be multi- 
plied speedily. 


Third. To Strengthen the Rural Churches. 
Forty-four percent of the population of the 
United States is rural. At least two-thirds of 
the membership of the United Brethren Church 
live in country places and in towns of less than 
five thousand. The welfare of our country 
churches is of first importance. The rural 
churches have supplied the world with the great 
majority of ministers and missionaries. Doubt- 
less seventy-five percent of the dependable 
strong laymen in city churches came from rural 
places. A discerning statesman correctly says: 


“The virtue, righteousness, human brotherhood, and 
the fear and love of ‘God in American life, is largely 
the fruit of the labors of country preachers and coun- 
try churches.” 


Christianising America 45 


Probably the greatest contribution the Uni- 
ted Brethren Church can make to the Kingdom 
during the next ten years will be to strengthen 
and enlarge its country churches. This for at 
least four reasons: 

That the rural churches may thoroughly evangelize 
their own communities; that the constant stream of 
life from the country to the city may continue pure 
and evangelistic; that these churches may supply the 
large number of able ministers and missionaries needed, 
and through gifts and prayer be a strong factor in ex- 


‘tending the Cause of Christ throughout America and 
the world. 


~The Board is cooperating with © country 
churches to carry out this four-fold purpose. 
TMceinew ebooks. Weveloping Our > Rural 
Churches,” published by the Home Missionary 
Society, will be found helpful. 


Fourth. Spanish-American Work. To evan- 
gelize our share of the Spanish speaking people 
of the Southwest, the Home Mission Board 
opened work at Velarde, New Mexico, in 1912, 
which has been extended to Alcalde, Santa 
Cruz, and recently to Espanola. Churches with 
growing Sunday Schools and Christian En- 
deavor Societies are in operation. Three mod- 
ern, well-equipped schools are now being con- 
ducted with an enrollment of 200. Fifteen 
workers are employed. The property value is 


$80,000. 


46 Partners in the Conquering Cause 





United Brethren Mission compound 
One of four United Brethren mission stations 


One of the schools gives a two-year high 
school course. Emphasis is placed on the study 
of the; Bible: As a part ot their scouitsemiie 
girls are instructed in all forms of house work, 
and the boys receive industrial training. 


From these schools young men and women 
who have found the Savior are going forth with 
correct American ideals to establish Christian 
homes, and some of them to teach and carry 
the message of life to other groups of their own 
people. 


One hundred thirty-nine United Brethren mis- 
sionaries, supported entirely or in part by the 
Board, are now at their tasks in twenty-five states, — 
from Pennsylvania to California. Home Mis- 
sion churches won to Christ during the last 
seventeen years, 45,890 persons. Hundreds of 
congregations have come to self-support and to 


Christianizing America 47 





at Santa Cruz, New Mexico. 
among the Spanish Americans of New Mexico 


aggressive spiritual service, through the aid of 
Home Missions. 

Church Erection a Many Sided Partner. Not 
many years ago lots and materials for church 
buildings, being comparatively cheap, were of- 
ten donated. With the passing of the years, 
and the cohditions brought on by the war, great 
changes have taken place. The cost of land, es- 
pecially in larger towns and cities, has multi- 
pled many times, and materials and labor have 
doubled in cost. These advances came when 
Conference leaders were calling to Home Mis- 
sions and Church Erection to open city missions 
in promising centers; they came when hundreds 
of United Brethren churches had to pass from 
temporary into permanent buildings, or lose 
their opportunity. 


In*-addition; to the higher prices, church 
workers were confronted with the necessity of 


48 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


providing church buildings with separate de- 
partments, for worship, teaching, and training. 
This’ has meant larger and more costly build- 
ings. 


HOW A CHURCH 





WITH THE HELP OF CHURCH ERECTION. 


Old and New Buildings, Breden Memorial Church, - 
Terre Haute, Indiana. 


Christianizing America 49 


ltmeuis not strprisino.. therefore,’ that “the 
Church Erection Society has been besieged 
with challenging appeals for help— many more 
calls than its limited funds could meet. 


To be of the greatest possible assistance in 
building a bigger and better denomination, the 
Church Erection Society has become a many 
sided helper. It serves churches through a 
Loan Fund, and through a Gift Fund; it fur- 
nishes plans and specifications for new church 
buildings ; and its services are available for Debt. 
Paying Campaigns and for Cash Days. 


Service Through the Loan Fund, and Through 
the Gift Fund. The Loan Fund is placed with- 
out interest, to be returned by installments to 
the Society at specified times. The Gift Fund 
is a new plan to supplement the Loan Fund 
with outright gifts to a few important centers 
where building enterprises must have prompt 
aid to insure success. 

The Church Erection Society has now a Loan 
Fund of approximately $450,000. This money, 
as it is returned to the Society is reloaned, aud 
it keeps on working through generation after 
generation. To double and quadruple this Loan 
Fund is of vital importance to the growth and 
power of our denomination. 

Through the wise placing of loans, 746 
churches have received aid to the amount of 


50 Partners m the Conquering Cause 


$1°106,125: >The Society. has: -helpedstiwereer 
sixty-six parsonages, with loans which totai 
$53,800. | 

Church: Erection” has»thus *helpédy to. ereet 
more than one-fourth of all the church build- 
ings of the denomination, in which are now 
housed at least one-third of the entire member- 
ship. | 

Better Type of Church Building, and Better 
Methods of Finance. The’ Church! (Breeton 
Society is rendering a helpful service to many 
congregations by making available a variety of 
plans for new church buildings at lowest cost. 
As a result a new type of church house, well 
suited for worship, and also for religious educa- 
tion, is being erected. 

The Society is helping churches to promote a 
better system of finance, especially in the pay- 
ment of debts and for special needs. 

A. Cy Siddall, the Church Erection’ secretary, 
has prepared an excellent “Manual of Aids and 
Suggestions’ which is available for the use of 
pastors. 


To assist in securing a convenient permanent 


church plant, and to help develop a spiritual, — 


aggressive congregation, strong in evangelizing 
its community, America, and the world, is the 
ultimate aim of Church Erection, rather than to 
help erect a “fine” church building as an end in 
itself. | 


Christianizing America 51 


Appealing Opportunities. United Brethren 
throughout the denomination have thus been 
using Home Missions and Church Erection as 
agencies to win souls in destitute places, organ- 
ize the recruits and help the new congregations 
to become, as early as possible, self-supporting, 
propagating center for the further extension of 
the Great Cause. 


There are many other destitute places calling 
for help but these societies cannot extend their 
work without more funds. 


Some churches, started from five to ten years 
ago by the Home Missionary Society, have 
reached their limit of growth until church build- 
ings can be provided for them. Second Church, 
Chicago, illustrates the situation which now ob- 
tains in a number of places. The Home Mission- 
ary Society has been aiding Second Church for 
some years. It is still worshipping in a chapel 
22x40 feet. Into this small room are crowded 
every Sabbath two hundred Sunday School 
scholars; forty-one little tots are packed into a 
Spacewext2 weet. Lhe pastor has: had to’ limit 
the attendance of the Sunday School to chil- 
dren whose parents are members of the church. 
A great unreaped harvest is all about this 
school, but it cannot be gathered until some 
agency cooperates in helping to secure a perma- 


3p Partners in the. Conquering Cause 


nent church building that will seat at least five 
hundred persons. 





Sunday school, Second United Brethren Church, 
Chicago, Illinois. 


P,. M: Camp, the Home Missionary secretary, 
well says, “We have scores of other home mis- 
sions with splendid prospects, but with similar 
handicaps. There can be no further advance in 
these places until more adequate buildings are 
provided.” 


United Brethren can double the number of 
converts in many conferences and greatly 
strengthen our denominational life and work by 
speeding up the work of Home Missions and 
Church Erection during the next ten years. 


Christianizing America 35 


The Situation Reviewed. 


During the decades from 1880 to 1923 new 
and difficult were the tasks which confronted 
the Protestant Churches of America the enor- 
mous immigration; the menace of the rapidly 
growing cities; the large migratory movements; 
the dangers of commercialism; the perils of lux- 
uries and intemperance, and the chaotic condi- 
tions following the war. 


Evangelism and missionary extension were 
the dominant notes sounded by the churches. 
With the increasing number within the church, 
and the complex and diversified needs without, 
much more attention was given to teaching and 
training; to organizing the forces, and to 
specialized service. 

The churches took up the work of providing 
homes for their orphaned children and aged 
and desolate members, and the work of pen- 
sioning their disabled and retired ministers. 

By concerted effort the traffic in strong drink 
was outlawed, and a movement started for a 
saloonless world. 

The problem of substituting “right” for 
“might” in the settling of international ques- 
tions, and of disarmament and world peace are 
now claiming the attention of the Christian 
Church. 


The population of the United States increased 121 
percent from 1880 to 1923, growing from 50,155,783 to 


54 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


110,663,502. The members of the Protestant Churches 
increased 186 percent during the same period, grow- 
ing from 10,066,000 to 28,808,000. The members of the 
United Brethren Church, in spite of the separation of 
the Radical element, increased 134 percent, growing 
{fOM vlo7,500s towo09./ 20. 


The following will show at a glance the zrowth of 
the Protestant Churches in the United States since 
1800: 


7 out of every 100 were church members in 1800. 
15 out of every 100 were church members in 1850. 
20 out of every 100 were church members in 1880. 
26 out of every 100 were church members in 1923. 


The growth of United Brethren Membership 
in the United States was as follows: 


1800 5,000 a 

1850 40,000 =o 

1880 157,833 = 

1923 369,725 = 


Everything considered, the growth of the 
Protestant Churches in the United States prob- 
ably stands without a parallel in the history of 
Christianity. 

It calls for devout thanksgiving to God whose 
hand won the victories. It presents to our gen- 
eration a tremendous responsibility. We have 
inherited rich and costly blessings. We can 
trace Christ’s bleeding feet through the centur- 
ies by the vision, courage and self-sacrifice of a 
long list of heroes of faith which connects the 
eleventh chapter of Hebrews with our own day. 


Sal 
cn 


Christianizing America 


Every Member Summoned to Enlist. 

Many are asking “what can we do?” Thou- 
sands are ready to join hands with Christ for 
the next advance in his Conquering Cause. He 
would have us lift up our eyes and look on the 
fields. Glorious as have been the achievements 
of the past, we are now challenged with the 
serious fact that the number of men, women 
and children, not members of any *church— 
Protestant, Jewish or Catholic—increased in the 
United States since 1880 from 34,000,000 to 
61,702,502. | 


4%0@ GH POPULATION IN US 5.308.483 (_] PROTESTANT 
KEY} Z CATHOLIC- JEWISH ETC, 


PROTESTANTS 7% OF POPULATION 


POPULATION IN U.S. 23.191.876 


1830 | 7a Gd NON -CHURCHED 


PROTESTANTS 15% OF POPULATION 





POPULATION IN THE U. S. 50.155.783 
1830 CL _#Z 
PROTESTANTS 20% OF POPULATION 


POPULATION IN THE V.8. 110,663,502  (aovmr estimate) 
1933: 2 


PROTESTANTS 28808000 -CATHOLIKS ETC 20.153.000 = NOT IN ANY CHURCH 61,702,502 


PROTESTANTS 26% OF POPULATION 





How must Christ, who when on earth wept 
over the thousands who crowded round him, 
regard these unshepherded millions of Amer- 
ica? At least 800,000 of them are in places ad- 
jacent to where United Brethren Churches and 
Sunday Schools are now organized and at work. 
If every member of the United Brethren Church 


56 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


will win three, our full share of the lost ones in 
America will be brought into the fold, and new 
joy and power enter not only their lives but 
the lives of those of us who will win them. 
Surely within a few years this ought to be ac- 
complished. 


Two arresting facts now press heavily ape 
the hearts of Christian leaders: 


(1) Of the vast number of unsaved: fellow  be- 
ings in our country, millions of them are young people 
ready to respond to a tactful earnest appeal, while about 
one-third of the entire number are nearing the end of 
their course in life and are still without God and with- 
out hope. 

(2) That of the 28,808,00 Protestant Church mem- 
bers probably 15,000,000 of them profess to have he- 
lieved in Christ for their own salvation, but as yet they 
have not become active partners with Christ in obey- 
ing) his commands, “Follow me, and I will make vou 
fishers of men.” “As my father hath sent ine, even so 
send I you.” They seem to believe that Christ saved 
them when they called upon him by faith, but they 
lack faith to believe that Christ will work with them 
for the salvation of others as they witness for him. 
Right here is the deadly missing link of the Christian 
Church. To a group of his early followers who had 
fallen into this grievous error, Jesus said, “Why call 
ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say.” 

Well did Bishop Thoburn say, “A thousand Inger- 


solls would not do so much to create disbelief of the 


truth among men, as this spectacle of a church inherit- 
ing promises which she seems unable to believe, and 
receiving commandments which she seems unwilling 
to execute.” 

The: winning of the unreached in America 


will be but food for the church when by faith 


Christianizing America 57 


its members link up with Christ as partners to 
carry out his purpose to seek and to save the 
lost. 


Evangelism Central and Universal. 
No Christian can experience the fullness of 
life in Christ without working with him for the 
lost. No Christian is “safe” until he is “saving.” 


While many United Brethren Churches dur- 
ing recent years received larger numbers on 
confession of faith than for some years before, 
yet the net gain in membership, in three years 
ending 1923 aggregated only 28,307, or an aver- 
age annual increase.of but 9,436. It has re- 
quired on an average about twelve United 
Brethren working a whole year to win one soul 
to Christ and the church. With such a large 
unreaped harvest all about us, earnest praying 
and whole hearted work should bring an increase 
in our membership, above all losses, of from 
50,000 to 100,000 a year until America is fully 
evangelized. Many have been startled to learn 
that on an average, about one-third of the 
United Brethren Churches have been receiving 
no one on confession of faith year by year. At 
least 150,000 unconverted persons reside within 
three miles of these fruitless churches and yet 
the 60,000 or more who hold membership in 
these places seem content to pass through 


twelve months without winning one soul to 
Christ and the church. 


58 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


The delegates to the General Conference of 
1921, after considering the whole situation, re- 
solved that a new emphasis must be placed by 
all our churches on soul winning. The General 
Conference created a “Board of Evangelism,” 
and recommended that a committee be formed 
in every local church to cooperate with the pas- 
tor in getting the members of the church to re- 
gard soul winning as their primary work. The 
General Conference provided for an evangelistic 
committee in every annual conference. It au- 
thorized the Board of Evangelism andits General 
Secretary, J. E. Shannon, to standardize the effi- 
ciency of all general and conference evangelists 
and to cooperate with the Bishops, Conference 
Superintendents and pastors in a sustained ef- 
fort to get every church, and every Sunday 
School to become powerful evangelistic agencies. 


A genuine, sustained, spiritual quickening of 
the church itself is the basic need—a revival 
that shall result in the reaffirmation of the 
Lordship of Jesus Christ in the lives of all the 
members, and their unquestioned loyalty and 


obedience to Christ in every relation of life. — 


Then will soul winning be the natural expres- 
sion of their abounding love for God, and we shall 
witness in the normal life of all the churches 
that which now characterizes a few—the win- 
ning of souls at every service. 


Christianizing America 39 


As we think of the dark days following the 
American Revolution and the mighty spiritual 
victories won by the Christian churches at that 
time under adverse conditions, the conviction 
deepens that if the members of the Protestant 
churches of America will at this time conse- 
crate themselves to God and incarnate his cause 
as their chief business, a new era of marvelous 
soul winning and spiritual achievement will come 
not only to America, but to the whole world. 
Will we do it? 

“Oh! America, America, in whose heart flows 
the rich blood of many nations; nursed by Purt- 
tan and Pilgrim; defended by patriot and mis- 
sionary. Oh! America, let thy God flood thee 
with a resistless passion for divine conquest; let 
thy Father lead thee over mountains and seas, 
through fire and flood, through sickness and 
pain, and out to that great hour when all men 
shall hear the call of Christ, and the last lonely 
soul shall see the uplifted cross.” 


CHAPTER III. ? 
EVANGELIZING OUR SHARE OF THE 
WORLD 


HE privilege of receiving the Gospel al- 
ways carries with it the obligation of 
giving it to others.. This was recognized 


by the Christians in each succeeding country to — 
which the Gospel was taken. 


God has often used times of war and distress- 
ing moral conditions as a challenge to the 
church for a new advance in extending the Gos- 
pel. It was during the dark days which fol- 
lowed the martyrdom of Stephen, when Chris- 
tians were driven out of Jerusalem, that God 
used his followers to start the first missionary 
work of the Christian church. 

Birth of the Modern Foreign Missionary 
Movement. When the French Revolution and 
French infidelity threatened the civil, social, and 
moral dissolution not only of France and Eng- 
land but of all Ewrope, Christians heard the call 
of God, and the modern missionary movement 
was born in England. | 

We find William Carey, the young cobbler 
and school teacher linked in counsel and prayer 
with Andrew Fuller, a young minister. 

Though baffled at first by gigantic difficulties, 
‘this united effort led to the formation of a For- 


Evangelizing Our Share 61 


eign Missionary Society in 1792. William Carey 
and others were sent to India. 


World-Wide Missions Started in America. In 
the dawn of the spiritual rebirth which followed 
the night of infidelity and moral darkness in 
the United States, the vision of the “regions be- 
yond” and the Church’s obligation, to “carry 
on’ came to Samuel J. Mills and a small group 
of young men at Williams College in 1806. 
These students met regularly to pray and coun- 
sel with a view to getting an agency formed in 
America by means of which they themselves 
might be sent to preach the Gospel to other 
lands. 

Immediate results were the awakening of a 
dozen or more pastors and churches to their op- 
portunity) and privilege in world-wide service; 
and, the formation of the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in 181¢. 

The Massachusetts Legislature refused at 
first to grant a charter to this organization, say- 
ing, “America has no religion to export.” 

It is not surprising that many hesitate? to en- 
courage this movement, when but a beginning 
had been made in evangelizing the settlements 
west of the Allegheny Mountains, and when not 
a single Protestant church had yet been organ- 
ized west of the Mississippi River. 

But the American churches had received a 
precious heritage by the coming of the Gospel, 


62 Partners m the Conquering Cause 


and the good news had to be passed on to 
others. Moreover, it was the conviction of 
many that it required the combined appeal of 
both home and foreign missions fully to en- 
list the members of the church in the extension 
of the Kingdom. 


The charter was granted and’ the first foreign 
missionaries from the United States were con- 
secrated to their work at Salem, Massachusetts, 
February 6, 1812. They went forth to India 

and Burma. 


United Brethren Start Foreign Missionary 
Work. We have seen that William Otterbein, 
the founder of the United Brethren Church, 
caught the vision of America as a mission field 
while at the university at Herborn, Germany, in 


Loe. 


It is a significant fact that in 1852, exactly 
one hundred years later, the students of Otter- 
bein College, which was named in honor of 
William Otterbein, were the first to catch the 
vision of foreign missions’ for the United Breth- 
ren Church. These students then organized the 
first local foreign missionary society of the de- 
nomination. 

This action stimulated the churches of San-- 
dusky, Allegheny and Sciota Conferences to 
form local and conference foreign missionary 
societies, and to petition the General Conference 


Evangelizing Our Share 63 


to form a denominational agency through which 
local churches could promote foreign missions. 


The delegates of the General Conference of 
1853, as stated in a previous chapter, formed the 
Home, Frontier and Foreign Missionary So- 
ciety through which the local churches did ef- 
fective work until 1905, when, as already stated, 
the Home Missionary Society and the Foreign 
Missionary Society became separate agencies. 


The Seed of the Kingdom Planted Wisely. 


The directors of the new society began to 
study the world field to decide ‘on the best 
places in which to plant the good seed; of the 
Kingdom. 

Africa the First Field. The leaders in this 
work were men of faith and courage. They 
were not looking for an easy task. They chose 
Africa as. the first field, “because,” as they said, 
“it is the most needy field, and the one most dif- 
ficult to cultivate.” 

Our first missionaries landed at Freetown, 
West Africa, February 26, 1855. 

Difficulties Encountered. The difficulties en- 
countered by our pioneer missionaries, and all 
who have served since in Africa, have been stu- 
pendous. 

They found many different tribes, each with 
its own language, customs and jealousies; they 
found that polygamy was an integral factor in 


64 Partners m the Conquering Cause 


society, and that woman was degraded and but 
little better than a slave. 


They discovered that practically all the peo- 
ple were possessed with a strange fear of evil 
spirits and a dominating belief in witch-craft, 
fetiches and charms. 

Pagan Africa is not passive, but intensely ac- 
tive in the works of darkness, even to the sacri- 
fice of human lives to anoint charms, which 
they believe will deliver them from their 
enemies. 

The missionaries were confronted with the 
problem of illiteracy. The spoken languages 
had not been reduced to writing. There were 
no dictionaries, no Bibles and no literature, and, 
of course, no schools. 

The First Converts. The first converts, 
Thomas Tucker and Lucy Caulker, came after 
the missionaries had been laboring three years. 
Lucy Caulker, a girl of fourteen, daughter of 
Chief Caulker, because of her consistent Chris- 
tian life and firm stand for Christ, suffered great 
persecutions, but proved faithful, and lived and 
wrought mightily for God for over fifty years. 

Thomas Tucker, a youth of twenty, became | 
a steadfast partner in the work. 

The Women’s Missionary Association Sends > 
Workers. In 1876 the newly formed Women’s 
Missionary Association sent their first, mission- 
aries to Rotifunk to help evangelize Sierra 


Evangelizing Our Share 65 


Leone. An interesting free-will offering was 
brought by the people when the first chapel was 
dedicated. It consisted of sixty acres of land, 
five binkes of rice, one cow, one country cloth 
and $27.14 in cash: 

Massacre and Reconstruction. The mission- 
aries planted their forces in different centers and 
more and more native converts were being won, 
when suddenly in 1898, like a hurricane, a 
mighty uprising swept down over Sierra Leone 
because of the hut tax required by the British 
Government. Seven of our missionaries were 
slain, and the native Christians were put to 
death or scattered, and all mission property was 
destroyed save that at Bonthe. 

The work of reconstruction was promptly be- 
gun. 

The Board sent a larger number of mission- 
aries who opened work in important centers 
throughout the protectorate. More day schools 
were opened. Training schools, dispensaries, and 
industrial work were started, and a brighter day 
for Sierra Leone was at hand. 

China Entered. The first United Brethren 
missionaries to plant the seeds of the Kingdom 
in China were sent in 1889. They located 11 
Canton, the largest city in South China. The 
Chinese in those days did not fully understand 
the purpose of missionaries. The bubonic 
plague was raging. In their efforts to relieve 


66 Partners m the Conquering Cause 


suffering the missionaries were mobbed and 
nearly killed. 

China is a nation with one-fourth of the 
earth’s population, whose history began three 
thousand years before the birth of Christ. Its 
language, without an alphabet, is most difficult 
to acquire. Her ancient civilization has made 
China conservative and slow to accept new 
ideas. With her natural resources largely un- 
developed, millions of Chinese are constantly 
facing starvation. There are 100,000,000 chil- 
dren of school age in China, but not more than 
ten percent of them have school privileges. In 
many districts sanitation is unknown. Leprosy 
and .smallpox are abroad with no attempt to 
quarantine. 

For thousands of years China has been held 
in the grip of ancestral worship, and the fear of 
the great dragon. These constitute serious ob- 
stacles to the spread of Christianity. Our mis- 
sionaries 1n China have won many converts, 
organized churches and day schools, and, started 
schools for the higher education of girls and 
boys;. and a large service is being rendered 
throughout hospitals and dispensaries. China, 
the giant nation, is awakening, and United 
Brethren are having a share in shaping the des- 
tiny of this wonderful country. 

Missionary Work Started in Japan. The at- 
tention of the world was centered'on Japan after 


Evangelizing Our Share 67 


her victory over China. The United Brethren 
Church opened a mission in the “Empire of the 
Rising Sun” in 1895. . 

As Japan already had well organized day 
schools and efficient hospitals and dispensaries, 
our missionaries gave chief attention to soul- 
winning, organizing and developing native 
churches, and training native leaders. 

The missionaries found that in Japan a pan- 
theistic atmosphere prevailed, which made it 
dificult for the Japanese to grasp the reality of 
a personal God. Where there is no God there 
is no conscious transgression, no adequate sense 
of sin. 

Extreme filial loyalty, an outgrowth of ances- 
tral worship, constitutes a serious barrier to the 
Papi spascamnoL, Christianitycin */Japan, . Itvis 
considered an almost unforgivable act for one 
to give up the worship of ancestors and become 
a Christian. Banishment from the family is 
frequently the result. One of our pastors said: 


“When I became a Christian my father was greatly 
grieved. He said, ‘If you will give up the religion of 
your ancestors and embrace Christ, from now on you 
are no longer my son.’ ”’ 


About seventy-five percent of the people of 
Japan are farmers and live in rural places. Thus 
far Christian missions have confined much of 
their work to the cities. There ate 700 towns 
each with a population of over 5,000 where no 
missionary work has been done. 


68 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Some of our strongest churches and native 
leaders abroad are found in Japan, where our 
forces are cooperating with other Christian 
workers to evangelize this aggressive nation as 
speedily as possible. ° 

Porto Rico and the Philippines. The United 
Brethren Church followed the American flag to 
Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. Our 
first missionaries landed in Porto Rico in 1899, 
and in the Philippines in 1901. The United 
States Government gave to these islands, which 
for centuries had been under the bondage of 
Spain, religious freedom, a first-class public 
school system, good roads and sanitation. 

The missionaries found the people in gtreat 
ignorance and poverty. Eighty-five percent 
could neither read nor write. Many living as 
husband and wife had never been married. Im- 
morality and gambling were practiced openly. 

Representatives from all the mission boards 
which desired to conduct missionary work in 
these islands held a council and divided up the 
territory to prevent overlapping. 

United Brethren established mission head- 
quarters for Porto Rico at Ponce, and for the 
Philippine Islands at San Fernando. ‘The lead- 
ing towns in both fields were soon entered and — 
some of the most enthusiastic native churches 
and Sunday schools found in any foreign field 
are now at work for the evangelization of these 


Evangelising Our Share 69 


islands. Probably no other mission fields in the 
world today present a more hopeful outlook 
than Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. 


Growing Victorious Native Churches. 


The goal and glory of foreign missions are 
spiritual, well-trained, native churches. No one 
acquainted with the millions to be reached by 





United Brethren Sunday School at Juana Diaz, Porto 
Rico. One of our 135 Sunday Schools abroad. 
In foreign lands as at home the Sunday 
School is the church’s best asset. 


the Gospel, and the difficulties involved, will 
ever think of the missionaries being able to 
evangelize the world. ‘That is not God’s way. 
Every country must be evangelized ultimately 
by its own churches. 


The missionaries go to non-Christian lands, 
master the language, study the conditions of 


70 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


the people, win the first converts, organize 
them into churches, call out and train the first 
preachers and teachers, and then gradually turn 
over the responsibility to them. 

A mission is successful in proportion to the 
number of efficient native churches it trains and 
sets to work. 

The United Brethren Church already has 
achieved signal success in its foreign missionary 
work, as shown by the fact that its missionaries 
and native associates have established 121 na- 
tive churches in important centers in our five 
fields- abroad—13 in China; 19 in Porto Rico 
20 in Japan; 30 in Africa; and 39 in the Philip- 
pines. 

From these churches as centers messengers 
of the Gospel go out to 987 other preaching 
places, many of which will soon become organ- 


ized churches. These churches are the light » 


and salt of their communities. 

Native Christians Winning Souls. The mem- 
bers of the churches are taught to regard soul- 
winning as their first business. It is inspiring 
to see these native Christians at work winning 


their friends to Christ. A man in one of our 


fields who was fleeing from the officers of the 
law heard the message of Christ from one of 
our workers, and he at once surrendered to the 
Lord and confessed his crime. He was sent to 
prison but was soon pardoned. With a passion 


‘ 
EE ee 


Evangelising Our Share Wak 





Wong Sun Shan, China. Kioshi Yabe, Japan. 





Stephen Caulker, Africa. 





- Juan Abellera, Philippines. 
g such men as these are the 
f foreign missions. 


Rafael Rodriguez, Porto Rico. 
Discovering and developin 
great achievements 0 


72 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


for souls he began at once to win his friends, 
and soon, forty-one of them confessed Christ 
and were baptized. He was then sent as an 
evangelistic messenger into an entirely new 
district, and within two years he won 234 per- 
sons to Christ. In making his report to the an- 
nual conference he said: 

“T do not remember a single day of the past 
year during which I did not talk with some one 
about his soul’s welfare.” 

These native Christians win souls through 
tactful testimonies here and there; through 
Bible classes, at the regular preaching services; 
in Sunday-school classes, and at Christian En- 
deavor meetings; and by going forth in evan- 
gelistic bands. 

In one of our missions they have adopted the 
following standard for the reception of new 


members: 


“That those who seek admission into the church shall 
be made to feel that a test of their sincerity in accept- 
ing Christ is a passion on their part to make him 
known to others.” 


Every pastor is expected to be an evangelist, 
and to make soul-winning the dominant factor 
of his work. 

Recent reports from the fields show encour- 
aging results. In China and Africa an increas- © 
ing number of persons are being led to make 
the decision for Christ through the regular ac- 
tivities of the church from month to month. 


Evangelizing Our Share 73 


In Porto Rico during the past year the in- 
dividual churches were organized for soul-win- 
ning. Each pastor directed the work in his own 
parish but was assisted by a neighbor pastor. 
This plan resulted in more than 400 confessions 
of faith. 

An evangelistic band in the Philippines, con- 
sisting of our own trained workers, has been 





Filipino evangelistic team. They have all been won 
and trained by our mission. 


cooperating with pastors and churches. In ad- 
dition to strengthening and enlarging the 
churches visited, this band recently gained a 
foothold in Luna, the only municipality in our 
district without an organized church. 


74 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Our churches in Japan have had the privilege 
of a series of evangelistic meetings conducted 
by Mr. Paul Kanamori, one of the leading na- 
tive evangelists of Japan. He held meetings in 
practically all of the United Brethren churches. 
The houses were packed and there were more 
than one thousand inquirers. When the report 
was given soon after the meetings closed, 350 
persons had already been baptized. 

Weeks before these meetings were held, the 
Japanese churches organized their members for 
personal service. 

The growth of the memberhip of our 
churches abroad is shown by the following: 


1875 241 

1885 250 mm 

1895 400 om 

1905 1429 oem 

1915 6432 oom 

1922 9490 


Mission Churches Develop Self-Support. To 
win souls to Christ is but the first step. The 
missionaries and native pastors are teaching the 
members of the churches the principles of Chris- 
tian stewardship, and that the privilege of re-— 
ceiving the Gospel carries with it the obligation 
of self-support and of sending the Gospel to 
others. 

There has been a rapid growth in the practive 
of the principles of stewardship. Many of the 


cn 


Evangelizing Our Share 7 


Christians are finding it a joy and blessing to 
pay at least a tithe of their income in acknow- 
ledging God’s ownership. 

Several churches already have attained self- 
support. Others are nearing the goal. 





Congregation and Christian workers at First United 
Brethren Church, Kyoto, Japan. One of our 
aggressive, self-supporting churches abroad. 


Teaching and Training. The great awaken- 
ing in non-Christian lands makes it necessary 
to secure able, native leaders in order that the 
churches may be developed as rapidly as pos- 
sible. 

In Africa and China it is necessary to conduct 
day schools, as well as schools of higher learn- 
ing for the training of leaders. 


70 Partners im the Conquering Cause 


In our missions abroad there are sixty-two 
day and boarding schools with an enrollment of 
3,013. Some of the schools are self-supporting. 
Included in the total are the Rufus Clark and 
Wife Training School for boys and the Lillian 
R. Harford School for girls in Africa; in China, 
the Miller Seminary for girls and young women 
and the Boys’ Grammar School; and in the 








Albert Academy, West Africa, is one of our nine. de- 
nom national and union schools abroad for 
training Christian leaders. 


Philippines the Young Woman’s Bible Training 
School. For the higher education and training 
of native pastors the Albert Academy has been 
established in Africa. 

In Porto Rico, the Philippines, China, and 
Japan our missions are cooperating with other 
missionary agencies in institutions of higher 


Evangelising Our ‘Share aes 
education for the training of leaders. Large 
numbers of our young people abroad are now 
preparing for whole time Christian work. 


Our mission schools, as now constituted, can- 
not meet the urgent requirements for education 
and training. . 


Creating Christian Literature. One of the 
strongest agencies for the development of na- 
tive Christians and for the spread of the Gospel 
is the printing press. 


In the midst of the great supply of Christian 
periodicals, books, tracts, and magazines in 
America, it is difficult to imagine the hunger 
of the native Christians for literature in their 
own tongue. Christian missions have had to 
create this Christian literature in all the fields. 


In Japan and China interdenominational! 
agencies are rendering splendid service to meet 
the increasing demand for helpful literature. 

In the Philippines our printing presses 1Ssue 
annually hundreds of thousands of pages of 
tracts, small books, and our mission paper, the 
“Naimbag a Damag,” which is the only Chris- 
tian paper published in the Ilocano, and has a 
large circulation. 

In Africa the printing press is operated as 
part of the training in connection with Albert 
Academy. Here are printed tracts, leaflets, 
booklets, and the “Sierra Leone Outlook,” a 


78 Partners im the Conquering Cause 


strong monthly periodical—the only religious 
paper in ‘Sierra - Leone. 


The printing press has been a large factor in 
the growth of our work in Porto Rico from the 
very beginning. Other denominations early 
recognized the high standard of Christian liter- 
ature issued by the United Brethren mission. 
Some years ago the Presbyterian, Baptist, Dis- 
ciples, and Congregational missions conferred 
with ours and joined in making our religious 
paper the periodical for all their missions. It 
is issued under the direction of one of our own 
missionaries in Porto Rico. ‘This: union print- 
ing plant has been made a depository for the 
best evangelical books and publications in 
Spanish. This cooperative work in Porto Rico 
is an inspiring example for other mission fields. 


Missionary Extension. The new church on 
the mission field is like the new convert, its 
first concern and desire being the salvation of 
everybody. From the beginning the workers 
seek to develop the missionary spirit and pas- 
sion on the part of the native churches. 


Missionary instruction and giving is a regular 
part of the work of the churches of Jape and 
China. 


In Africa great strides fies been made by 
the native churches in supporting their own 
workers in new districts. 


se 


Evangelizing Our Share HTD 


Chapels are being built and missionary 
workers supported by the churches of the 
Philippines. They gave last year $533 for mis- 
sionary work in the mountains. 


In Porto Rico ten chapels have been erected 
in outlying sections with funds contributed by 
their churches. 

This missionary impulse speaks much for the 
healthy growth of the churches, and the speedy 
extension of the cause of Christ. 


Hospitals and Dispensaries. The power of 
medical missions is increasing with the years. 
When we remember that in America there is 
one doctor for every 5/77 persons while in some 
great mission fields. there is but one medical 
missionary to 2,500,000 persons, nothing more 
need be said in favor of a great advance in 
medical missionary work. 


In 1895 the United Brethren missions minis- 
tered to 1,322 persons through two dispensaries. 
In 1905 they ministered to 16,362 persons. In 
the year 1915 the dispensaries had increased to 
e‘ght and the number of patients treated to 30,- 
229. In 1922 there were nine dispensaries in 
operation and four hospitals, one of the latter 
in Africa, another in the Philippines and two 
in China. Through these thirteen hospitals and 
dispensaries our missionaries and their native 
associates treated 70,987 patients last year. 


80 Partners in the Conquering Cause 





Coover Dispensary, Canton, China. This is one of 
thirteen hospitals and dispensaries that in 1922 


ministered to over 70,000 patients in our 
fields abroad. 


Who can conceive of the pain relieved, the 
sicknesses cured, the successful operations per- 
formed, and the souls saved as the direct result 


Evangelizing Our Share 81 


of this work? The opportunity for human 
kindness and soul-winning in medical missions 
is boundless. 

Evangelistic Spirit to Permeate All Activities. 
The dominating purpose of mission work, 
namely, soul-winning and soul-building, is kept 
constantly before the Christians and native 
churches in every department of the work. In 
one of the fields abroad the missionaries and 


native pastors voted the following: 

“That we ask the Spirit of God to guide us in mak- 
ing soul-winners of every man, woman, and child now 
within the fold. 

“That we will place no value upon any work we do, 
whether it be in the pulpit, schoolroom, workshop, or 
dispensary, unless it be done with a view to the glory 
of God in the salvation of precious souls.” 


Growth of Different Phases of Work. A 
summarized statement of the growth of each 
phase of our foreign missionary work is shown 
in the following tables: 


1875 1885 1895 1905 1915 1922 
MisslomaxiGg  Weroe card sicts'e cee 6 12 16 ou 64 74 
Ordained Native Workers.. 0 0 0 4 AR 46 
Total Native Workers....... 0 24 21 81 174 222 
Organize@ Churches......... 2 9 10 8 102 121 
Communicant Members...... 24 250 400 1,429 6,432 9,490 
Sunday Schools..........2... 0 3 10 38 116 135 
Sunday School Enrollment. 0 508 696 2,243 7,199 9,691 
Young People’s Societies. . 0 0 1 6 3 42 
Members, Y. P. Societies. ... 0 0 35 239 765 1,251 
Day and Boarding Schools.. 0 12 9 14 RS 62 
Pupils in D. and B. Schools 0 426 594 901 1,669 3,013 
Hospitals and Dispensaries. 0 0 2 2 8 13 
Cases Treated (One Year).. 0 0 1.372 16,362 30,229 70.978 
Value of Mission Property. . $25,000 $30,000 $76,927 $259, 678 $681,709 


Specialized Service. Some of our foreign 
missionaries and native leaders have rendered 
noteworthy service, the influence of which 


82 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


reaches beyond the bounds of our own mis- 
sions. 

One of our foreign missionaries in the Philip- 
pines, at the request of the American Bible So- 
ciety assisted in translating portions of the 
Bible into the Ilocano language, which makes 
available for the first time the word of God to 
the thousands who speak this language. 

At the request of the British and Foreign Bi- 
ble Society one of our missionaries, who has 
spent many years in service in Africa, translated 
the four gospels into Kono language. The Gos- 
pel of Matthew has already been printed and is 
being circulated as the first message of life and 
light to the people of Kono country. 

One of our Japanese pastors who has special- 
ized in Sunday-school work was recently elected 
by the Japanese Sunday School association as 
one of five to represent Japan at the world’s 
Sunday School Convention at Glasgow, Scot- 
land. 

A United Brethren layman in the Philippines 
is now president of the National university of 
the islands, and editor of the National Forum. 
He is one of the men who was interviewed by | 
leaders of America in deputation work to the 
Philippines. 

A native member of our West Africa Confer- 
ence has been employed by the British Govern- 
ment to prepare a dictionary and grammar, or 





Evangelizing Our Share 83 


hand book, of the chief languages spoken in the 
protectorate. This is difficult, pioneer work. 
Already the task for the Mende and the Sher- 
bro languages has been completed. Far-reach- 
ing results! will follow. 


Ten years ago two United Brethren mission- 
aries in Porto Rico made a survey of Santo 
Domingo as a prospective mission field. One 
of these missionaries has become the Executive 
Secretary of the entire missionary work in Porto 
Rico, and the other the Superintendent of the 
joint work now carried on in Santo Domingo — 
by the Presbyterians, Methodists and United 
Brethren. 


Hour of Opportunity for America. 
The Gospel has been taken to the leading 
centers of all the nations chiefly by the Prot- 
estant churches of America and England. 


The preliminary work for the world’s evan- 
gelization has been accomplished. Conditions to- 
day on every field seem favorable for a great 
advance in vital Christianity throughout the 
world. Just when the Christian churches should 
double and quadruple their efforts to hasten 
the work of evangelization in all the earth, the 
World War broke up, the nations, baffled the 
forces, and prostrated the world-wide evangel- 
izing agencies in Europe. 


84 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


In this hour of supreme need to what other 
country can the struggling churches abroad 
surrounded by the powers of darkness, look for 
cooperation and aid but to the United States? 
To the churches of what other country than 
ours can the six hundred million souls as’ yet 
untouched with Gospel privileges, turn for the 
first messengers of God? | 

Will the American churches do it, or shall 
the future record the tragedy of a lost oppor- 
tunity? 

Germany had her opportunity but she griev- 
ously failed. One hundred years before Carey 
started the modern foreign missionary move- 
ment, Baron von Weltz, one of Germany’s 
noblest sons, saw Germany’s opportunity to be- 
come the pioneer nation in attempting to evan- 
gelize the world. He enlisted others to join 
him in earnest effort to arouse the Protestant 
churches of Germany to their duty. 


But they denounced him as a dreamer and a 
fanatic. Broken hearted, he turned from his 
country, ‘saying in spirit, ‘behold your house is 
left desolate,’ and he went forth to fill a solitary 
missionary grave in a foreign field.” * 


Following her rejected opportunity rational- 
ism swept over Germany like a flood and led to 
the exaltation of “might” above “right.” 


1. Adoniram Judson Gordon, a Biography by his son, page 249. 


Evangelizing Our Share 85 


“Times and opportunities pass. The church 
must use them or lose them.” Such a time is 
now upon the churches of America, and in a 
very real sense upon the United. Brethren 
Churches. What will we do with it? 


Our Uncompleted Task. 


Fifteen. years ago the ‘United’ Brethren 
Church with other denominations assumed a 
definite share of the non-Christian world to 
evangelize. We agreed to take the message of 
the Savior to at least five millions in our alloted 
fields abroad. That was a definite, business- 
like proposition, and it appealed strongly to the 
United Brethren everywhere. More mission- 
aries were sent out, and more funds raised for 
buildings and equipment. Aggressive churches 
were organized in nearly all the large towns of 
our entire territory, and training schools were 
started. 


Butenow.comes the test. .Because many 
failed to raise in full their benevolence budgets 
a serious shortage has come for the regular 
work abroad. Then too of the sixty churches 
organized during the last ten years, at least 
thirty are still compelled to worship in halls 
or small temporary buildings, some of which 
were crowded to the doors five years ago. This 
equipment should be provided soon. 

Then, has not the time arrived for the 


86 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


United Brethren Church to provide a foreign 
missionary for every 40,000 in our territory and 
thus fully occupy the regions allotted to us for 
evangelization? To do this we shall need to 
increase our missionary staff from 74 to at least 
125, and this is easily possible, for it would re- 
quire but one missionary for every three thou- 
sand of our members. 


Will United Brethren link themselves in part- 
nership with God and with our missionaries 
and native workers abroad in meeting these im- 
perative needs? 

Well does Secretary S. G. Ziegler say: 


“We do not want simply a missionary constituency, 
a few in each church interested. That will never 
evangelize the world. Every member with a mission- 
ary passion and purpose is our objective.” 


In this inspiring partnership laymen will find 
their chief joy and a sure way to enlarged 
erowth and service. 

One who had been reared in a church that 
did not have a vision of Christ’s purpose to 
evangelize the world, when nearing the close 
of his life, caught the vision from a friend to 
whom he then wrote, 


“T would gladly die for this cause now when it is 
too late. Perhaps I might have done so had some- 
body taken me in hand early enough. I don’t blame 
any mortal. I am simply saying that something is 
wrong with the scheme of things which fails to put 
Christ for the whole world right on the forefront as 
the battle cry of the Christian church.” 


Cry ERAN 
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 


HE name most commonly applied to 

Jesus by his early followers was “Teach- 

er,’ and they were considered “disci- 
Ties; selearneérs. ”, 

When Christ commissioned his followers to 
witness for him in all the world, he made “‘teach- 
inp them a distinct’ part of the work, to be 
done. Teaching has gone hand in hand with 
preaching from the beginning. The chief agency 
to carry out the teaching function of the church 
is the Sunday school. 


The Sunday School. 


The modern Sunday school had its origin in 
England in 1780 when Robert Raikes gathered 
neglected children into a school, and taught 
them the Bible and other subjects. 


Newcomer, that great pioneer builder of the 
United Brethren Church, recorded in his Jour- 
nal on May 21, 1800, this: 


“Today I came to Brother Pfrimmer’s. About thirty 
children had assembled at his house to whom he was 
giving religious instruction; some were under convic- 
tion. I also spoke to them; their hearts were sensibly 
touched.” 


The first reported Sunday school in the Unit- 
ed Brethren. Church was the one organized by 


88 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


John George Pfrimmer in a little log church at 
Corydon, Indiana, in 1820. 

Sunday school work in our denomination has 
always been popular and highly  successtul. 
There are now in our communion 3,011 Sun- 
day schools, with 40,672 teachers and officers, 
and a total enrollment of 433,710. During 1923 


on ios 


NP, 


he ob VE aS 





In a house like this J. G. Pfrimmer organized the first 
United Brethren Sunday School in 1820. 
there were added to our churches on confession 
of faith from the Sunday schools 13,520 boys, 

eirls, and adults. 
What is the Sunday School? The Sunday 
school is an educational institution, meeting 
once a week, under the direction of the church, 
engaging in teaching religious truth, in develop- 


Christian Education 89 


ing Christian character, and in training for 
Christian service. A shorter and more dynamic 
definition is, “The Sunday school is the church 
‘teaching the Word of God, for the purpose of 
bringing souls to Christ and building up souls 
iy ee hrist.” 


The Sunday School’s Challenging Opportun- 
ity. More people accept Christ between the 
ages of twelve and sixteen than in any other like 
period of life. The Sunday school has an un- 
equalled opportunity for winning converts, yet 
from sixty to seventy percent of the Sunday 
school pupils pass out of the school without be- 
ing won to confession of faith in Christ. How- 
ever, the forty percent of the Sunday school 
scholars who accept Christ furnish about eighty 
percent of the accessions to the church. 


About one-third of the Sunday school pupils 
of the country do not hold church membership. 
This brings to the very door of the Church a 
waiting multitude, and the Sunday school has 
the best opportunity and the greatest responsi- 
bility for winning them. 


There are in the United States about 61,000,- 
O00 persons not connected with any church; 
there are more than 27,000,000 under twenty- 
five years of age classed as Protestants who are 
not receiving any religious instruction, and not 
enrolled in any religious school, and there are 


90 Partners im the Conquering Cause 


8,000,000 nominally Protestant children growing 
up in non-church homes. 

This untouched field calls for partnership 
with all the religious educational agencies. 





A few of the 27,000,000 that are destitute of any 
religious training. 


In addition to this field in the United States 
there is the inescapable responsibility for shar- 
ing in the work of giving to the children and 


young people of pagan lands the knowledge of 
Christ. 


Christian Education 91 


The Sunday School’s Program. Teaching the 
Bible and the truths of religion to the people 
is at the heart of the Sunday school’s program. 
Recognition of the normal characteristics of va- 
rious age groups, and the adaptation of the in- 
struction and the employment of methods suit- 
able to the different ages are important factors 
of the Sunday school’s program. The Children’s 
Division, including all under the age of twelve, 
with the cradle roll, the beginners, the primary 
and the junior pupils, is under the supervision 
of the Children’s Division superintendent. The 
Young People’s Division, for the twelve to 
twenty-four year old folks, with three distinct 
groups, the intermediate, the senior, and the 
young people, calls for the supervision of a 
Young People’s Division superintendent, who 
will direct them in their fourfold program, 
which is physical, intellectual, social, and spirit- 
ual. The Adult Division provides for all from 
twenty-four years old and upward, with adult 
classes, parent’s classes, and the home and ex- 
tension departments for those who are unable 
to attend the session of the school. 

In the Young People’s and Adult Divisions, 
the organization of classes is an important fac- 
tor in providing for expressional activity, as 
well as preparing for instruction. In the grades 
of all divisions the work is centered around the 
pupil, building upon the foundation laid in the 


Q? 


et 


Partners in the Conquering Cause 


preceding grades. From the Young People’s 
Division come most of the converts and future 
Christian leaders. In the organized adult classes 
"service isatne keynote: 

Standards. The following gives briefly the 
aims, means, and tests of the general standard 
for United Brethren Sunday schools: 


i 


Aims. (1) To win every available member of 
the community to the Sunday school. (2) To 
win the members of the Sunday school to Christ 
and the church. (3) To win them for intelli- 
gent and effective Christian life and service. 
Means. (1) Graded organization. (2) Graded 
lessons and graded methods of instruction. (3) 
Regular missionary instruction. (4) Temperance 
instruction. (5) Sunday school evangelism and 
church attendance. (6) A training department. 
(7) A worker’s council and library. (8) Chil- 
dren’s Day observed and an offering for the 
General Sunday School Board. 

Tests. The efficiency of a Sunday school is meas- 
ured by the character of its product. The foilow- 
ing tests need constantly to be applied: (1) Is 
the school making such increase in enrollment 
and average attendance as may be reasonably ex- 
pected from a careful survey of its community? 
(2) Is the knowledge of the Bible growing? (3) 
Is the devotional life steadily developing? (4) 
Are the pupils dedicating their lives to Christ 
and the Church? (5) Are the pupils showing - 
increasing interest and efficiency in Christian 
service? 


The Otterbein Brotherhood. This distinct 
phase of the work centers about the men of the 
church and Sunday school, and is closely related 
to the Adult Division of the school. 


Christian Education 93 


The men’s Brotherhood may consist of a 
men’s organized Bible class, or may be a feder- 
ation of different men’s classes and other men’s 
organizations of the church, all combining and 
constituting a chapter in the Otterbein Brother- 
hood. The purpose is to put proper emphasis 
upon the responsibility and opportunity of the 
men in promoting the work of the church. The 
Brotherhood objectives of service include the 
winning of men and boys to Jesus Christ, the 
promotion of brotherliness, the magnifying of 
the church as a spiritual agency, cooperating 
with denominational boards, and participation 
in worthy movements for social, civic, and in- 
dustrial betterment. The last Sunday in January 
of each year is designated as Brotherhood Day. 


Sunday School Evangelism. The Sunday 
School is recognized as the greatest field and 
force for evangelism. An important factor in 
the program of United Brethren Sunday School 
is the activity of the school and its teachers and 
officers in winning the pupils to faith in Christ, 
and leading them to publicly confess Christ as 
their Lord. Special stress is laid upon the ob- 
servance of Passion Week, emphasizing Palm 
Sunday as Decision or Forward Step Day, ‘and 
Easter Sunday as Join the Church and Visitor’s 
Day. Every school is urged to observe at least 
one decision day during the school year. The 


94 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Sunday School Board provides special helps for 
making the school effective in evangelism. 


Missionary Instruction. To have a mission- 
ary church, missionary instruction and mission- 
ary giving must be a part of the program of 
the Sunday school under the direction of a mis- 
sionary superintendent. A monthly missionary 
program in each school, giving information con- 
cerning the needs of the world, and providing 
for an offering for the benevolences of the 
church is coming to be widely observed. The 
school also cooperates with the general mis-. 
sionary societies, and with the other religious 
organizations in promoting mission reading and 
study. 


Training Teachers and Workers. The glory 
of the Sunday school is in the voluntary service 
rendered by officers and teachers. The crying 
need everywhere is for trained officers and 
teachers. Because of the growing interest in 
Week Day schools and Summer Vacation Bi- 
ble schools there is an increasing demand on 
the part of the children for qualified leaders and 
teachers. The Sunday School Department. of- 
fers Standard Training Courses, enrolls classes. 
gives credits, issues certificates and diplomas. 
Our standard course is recognized by the Inter- 
national Sunday School Council of Religious 
Education. The department promotes these 


Christian Education 95 


courses at Summer Bible and Training schools, 
and at institutes and conventions. 

The Creed of our Sunday School Department. 
in the language of Secretary C. W. Brewbaker: 


“Our Sunday School Department in all of its work 
exalts God as heavenly Father, Jesus Christ as divine 
Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit as guide and helper, 
the Bible as the Word of God, and the church as the 
agency through which the lost world is to be saved. 
It aims to connect the Christian religion and education 
in a vital way in order that the great commission 
given to the disciples may be carried out—‘Go ye there- 
foré’and teach.’ ” 


Christian Endeavor. 

A glimpse of Christ as a youth shows him in 
training in self-expression while learning—he 
was both hearing the teachers and asking them 
questions. The synagogue services provided 
training in self-expression, as revealed in the 
incident when Christ went to the services on 
the Sabbath, as was his custom, and he read the 
Scripture and was given the opportunity to 
speak. 

The Youth Movement. God gives a vision 
of what he wants done during a generation to 
the young people who are to live and work dur- 
ing that generation. When God plans to put a 
new emphasis in the promotion of his kingdom, 
the Spirit, operating everywhere, puts the idea 
into the minds of different people in different 
places. In the youth movement of the latter 
part of the nineteenth century, it was given to 


wet Partners in the Conquering Cause 


a young pastor, Francis I. Clark, to put in form 
ideas that have, in the providence of God, be- 
come world-wide. Those ideas gather about the 
name “Young People’s Society of Christian En- 
deavor.” They embody the recognition of youth 
in the church, the nurture of the Christian life 
through expression, training for Christian serv- 
ice through action, and the voluntary assump- 
tion of responsibility, all centered about Christ 
and the church. | 

Training in Action. To train is to form by 
instruction, practice, and guidance. The Chris-_ 
tian Endeavor idea centers about training. A 
distinctive feature is that it puts emphasis on 
personal initiative and responsibility coupled 
with cooperative activity. During the few years 
of the young Christian’s membership in the 
Christian Endeavor society he is trained to give 
expression to his experiences in testimony, to 
lead meetings, to plan and promote the activi- 
ties of his organization, and to work with others 
through committees. 

In addition, Christian Endeavor, in harmony 
with the present trend of Christian activity, 
trains the young people of the church for effec- 
tive cooperation with the Christians,.of all de- 
nominations, through its interdenominational 
and international conventions. | 

United Brethren Christian Endeavor. J h e 
organization of the young people’s Christian 


Christian Education 97 


Endeavor movement of our denomination was 
effected June 4, 1890, in a convention held at 
Dayton, Ohio, attended by two hundred repre- 
sentatives from different parts of the Church. 
The denominational organization took the 
name Young People’s Christian Union, which 
included societies of various names. For eighteen 
years the work was carried on under that name, 
when, in 1908, the Christian Endeavar name 
was adopted, and at the ensuing General Con- 
ference the work was placed under the Board 
of Control of Sunday school and Young Peo- 
pies Work, -In 1893, the General Conference 
established a weekly paper, the Watchword, for 
the promotion of young people’s work. 

The Christian Endeavor societies, after thirty- 
four years, number 2610, including 1590 Senior, 
1020 Intermediate and Junior societies. The 
membership in all these societies numbers 96,- 
585. 

Graded Training Activities. Christian En- 
deavor adapts its training to the requirements 
of different ages, represented by the names of 
the three societies, Junior, Intermediate, and 
Senior. In the Junior society provision is made 
also for the younger children who cannot read 
‘in a closely connected group called Junior 
Jewels. 

To promote the Junior and Intermediate work 
a superintendent of those divisions is provided. 


98 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


The Women’s Missionary Association cooper- 
ates in the missionary training of the Juniors. 

Christian Endeavor Activities. The program 
of Christian Endeavor has increased in its out-- 
reach during the third of a century it has been 
in operation. 

1. “Win-a-soul” activities. Christian En- 
deavor has been evangelistie from the first. 
The motto of the United Brethren young peo- 
ple’s societies, adopted thirty-four years ago, 
was “For the glory of God and the salvation of 
men.” ‘Win-a-soul” efforts have been features 
of the program for years. The most recent slogan 
of Christian Endeavor is, “Friends of Christ, to 
win friends for Christ, to be friends in Christ.” 

2. Comrades of the Quiet Hour. -There'are 
about 10,000 of our young people enrolled as 
Comrades of the Quiet Hour, those who plan 
to devote a period of every day, if practical .at 
least fifteen minutes, to the reading of God’s 
word, meditation, and prayer. ) 

3. The stewardship principle. About one- 
‘half of all the tithers in the United Brethren 
Church are Endeavorers, or have been in- 
fluenced to become Christian stewards through 
Christian Endeavor. | 

4. Mission study. The mission study idea 
now employed so widely throughout the church, 
had its practical beginning in the Golden Rule 
mission studies of Christian Endeavor. 


Christian Education 99 


5. Religious reading. The nurture of the 
Christian life is promoted by religious reading. 
Our Christian Endeavor organization, through 
what is called Supplemental Personal Efficiency 
reading, has been instrumental in wonderfully 
promoting the reading of good books. The plan 
includes the reading of books on missions, Chris- 
tian stewardship, evangelism, the devotional 
life, and church life. Started in 1917, with the 
awarding of certificates for books read, in seven 
years the number of certificates issued increased 





Increase in Religious Books Read Under the 
Christian Endeavor Supplemental Personal 
Efficiency Plan 


Thousands 
1917. 2a 
1919 § = 


1921 3°) == 
1923 5 ESTE EP LAELIA EE 





from 750 a year to 9841, a total of 14,211, repre- 
senting the number of persons who have been 
reading. Seals:representing the books read are 
placed on the certificates, the number increasing 
from 2000 the first year to 65,000 last year, a 
total of 100,000, representing the number of dif- 
ferent books and pamphlets read. 

This reading also includes the “Reading 
Through the Bible Plan,’ which was started in 
1923, when 12,000 persons, reported their pur- 


100 Partners im the Conquering Cause 


pose to read through the Bible in a year. Sev- 
eral thousand certificates for the Bible reading 
have been issued, and many seals are going out 
constantly in recognition of this reading. 


6. Life service. The Life Work Recruit 
movement began a little more than a decade 
ago, having been promoted in the United Breth- 
ren Church before it became a feature of the 
general Christian Endeavor movement. The 
movement as fostered in the Christian Endeavor 
societies, was greatly stimulated during the 
United Enlistment Movement, when the Church 
went on its knees praying for workers. 


Christian Endeavor has rendered an impor- 
tant service in offering in its conventions the 
channel for enlisting recruits, and in inspiring 
them and other young people to go to college. 


A Challenging Field. Although there are 
nearly 100,000 members in the Endeavor socie- 
ties of the Church, there is an army of young 
people of Christian Endeavor age who are not 
receiving the special training afforded by the 
Endeavor activities. There are about 250 Inter- 
mediate societies in the denomination, which 
leaves over 3000 churches without such an ~ 
organization to help stop the leakage at the in- 
termediate age. With 750 Junior societies, there 
are 2,500 churches that are depriving the boys 
and girls of this helpful training in self-expres- 


Christian Education 101 


sion. Approximately one-half of our churches 
do not have Senior Christian Endeavor organ- 
izations. Unfortunately, too many of these 
churches not only do not have the benefit of 
the young people’s society, but they give little 
attention to the organized young people’s Sun- 
day school class. “There remaineth much land 
to be possessed,” says Secretary O. T. Deever. 


The Board of Control. 


The two outstanding agencies of religious 
education and training, the Sunday school and 
the Christian Endeavor society, are directed by 
one board, the Board of Control of Sunday 
School, Brotherhood, and Young People’s Work. 
An executive committee and a secretary for 
each general department promote these impor- 
tant agencies by directing their activities, pro- 
viding information, giving publicity to plans, 
and by holding institutes and conventions. 


Summer schools are conducted in different 
parts of the Church, and conventions, local and 
conference, touch many thousands of our peo- 
ple. An important factor in conducting these 
conventions is the conference organization. 


For the Sunday school work each annual con- 
ference is asked to elect a Sunday School Board, 
the duties of which are to organize and proper- 
ly officer the work within the bounds of the an- 


102 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


nual conference, in cooperation with the general 
department. 

The Conference Christian Endeavor Union 
performs a similar service in its field. About 
5000 people annually attend the Conference 
Christian Endeavor Conventions. 


Our Colleges. | 

Christ in the life vitalizes the mind. ‘This is 
characteristic of Christianity. Mohammedanism 
finds a desert or makes one; Confucianism 
chains the mind to the past; the conversion of 
the soul to Christ liber- 
ates and stimulates the 
mind. Hence, the Chris- 
tian church has been the 
mother of education. [t 
was the Christian impulse 
that founded the institu- 
tions of higher education 
in England and the Uni- 
ted States. 


Universal education is 
necessary in a democ- 
racy. If all the people 
rule, all the people must 
be educated to the end 
that impulse and passion 
may be subjected to de- 
Otterbein College liberation and reason. 





Christian Education 103 


This means Christian education. If it is es- 
sential that education be Christian, then the 
church cannot escape the responsibility of pro- 
moting education. 

Great as has been the contribution of the 
church college in the preparation of Christian 
leaders, no less has 
been its service in 
Sendinomuottes an 
army of educated 
Christian laymen. 

Founding Chris- 
tian Colleges. The 
United Brethren 
| Cobar ce hin’ 13845 
first had up for consideration in its General Con- 
ference the subject of higher education, when a 
resolution was passed, “That proper methods 
be adopted to establish 
an institution of learn- 
ing.’ The matter was 
referred to the annual 
conferences witha cau- 
tion against “irredeem- 
able debts.” 

The widespread in- 
terest in higher educa- 
tion is seen in the ac- 
tivity of the annual 
conferences in propos- York College 





Philomath College 





104 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


ing to establish colleges. The Miami was the 
first to act, with a proposition to cooperate with 
Indiana conferences. St. Joseph favored the 
proposal. Scioto, now 
Southeast Ohio, later 
the same year, 1846 
secured the Blendon 
Seminary property at 
Westerville, Ohio, and 
invited other confer- 
ences t0.@.0 0 'piGy aac 
The next year Indiana 
conference took up the 
proposal to establish a 
school in its territory, 
and about the same 
Shenandoah Collegiate time Allegheny con- 
POEL ference authorized the 
establishing of a college at Mt. Pleasant, Pennsyl- 
vania. 





The full story of the founding of our colleges 
cannot be told here. Otterbein College at West- 
erville was opened in 1847, and Mt. Pleasant 
College in 1850, the latter merging with Otter- 
bein eight years later. During the years fol- 
lowing other colleges and academies were 
founded by the various conferences. The Gen- 
eral Conference in 1869 authorized the estab- 
lishment of a Biblical school, and in 1871 Union 


Christian Education 105 


Biblical Seminary, now Bonebrake Theological 
Seminary, opened its doors at Dayton, Ohio. 


Our Educational Institutions. At the present 
time, the ~United Brethren Church has one 
theologi- 
cal seminary, 
Sie ecu lleres 
and one junior 
college. The at- 
Wee teat Guat 
thiese institu- 
ons jin 13923 
was 2,/84, an 
Inerease of 
avb'O-U.t) Ssixty- 
eight percent in ten years. The number in these in- 
stitutions studying for the ministry and mission- 
ary work at the last report was 410, twice as many 
as ten years ago. These eight institutions last 





Lebanon Valley College, 


year had net assets of 
more than $5,000,000, 
three times what they 
were ten years ago. 
About Our Colleges. 


Full information about 
our colleges may be 





secured from. the re- 





spective institutions. 


Our schools are: Kansas City University, 


106 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Otterbein. College, Westerville, Ohio, founded 
in 1847, has given such a large percent of its 
students to Christian callings as to win national 
renown, while it has trained thousands of lay- 
men for the church and state. 

Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pennsyl- 
vania, opened its doors in 1866, and has been 
sending forth its unceasing output of Christian 
leaders and useful and influential citizens all 
these years. 

Kansas City University, founded by the Meth- 
odist Protestants in 1896, has been operated 
jointly by the Methodist Protestant and United 
Brethren churches since 1913. It is close by a 
a city of 500,000 people, at the gateway of im- 
portant United Brethren territory. 

Philomath College, Philomath, Oregon, our 
only institution on the Pacific Coast, was founded 
in 1865. It is supplying the Coast with Chris- 
tian leaders in every profession as well as pro- 
viding ministers and missionaries. 

Shenandoah Collegiate Institute, founded in 
1876, in Dayton, Virginia, is our only United 
Brethren school south of the Mason and Dixon 
line. Ministers and trained laymen have gone. 
from its halls in an unbroken line since its 
founding. . 

York College, York, Nebraska, began its ca- 
reer of service in 1890. It stands in the center of 
our mid-western territory, and has made a no- 


Christian Education 107 


table contribution in prepared leaders for the 
region it serves. 

Indiana Central College, Indianapolis, Indiana, 
the youngest of our educational institutions, 
was founded in 1905. It is located in a popu- 











Indiana Central College, Indianapolis, Ind‘ana. 


lous United Brethren area, and has the record 
of haying made more rapid progress than any 
other college in the State. 


The Board of Education. 

This board has its aims: 1. To create a de- 
nomination-wide interest in Christian educa- 
tion and in our United Brethren schools. 2. To 
strengthen our institutions of learning as train- 
ing agencies for Christian service, by securing 
for them better equipment and more adequate 
endowment. 3.’ To enlist and -train larger 
numbers of our young people for leadership in 
Christian service, and especially for the gospel 
ministry. In the attainment of these aims it 1s 
the policy of the board: 


1. To maintain our exist‘ng schools. The patron- 
age of a college is largely local. This is true of the 


108 Partners im the Conquering Cause 


nationally-known institutions. Harvard University 
draws sixty-one percent of its students from within a 
hundred miles. The smaller colleges draw from sixty 
to eighty percent of their students from within a hun- 
dred miles. To reduce the number of colleges would 
be to lessen services to the Church and the world. 

2. It is the policy of the board to make our Church 
schools standard institutions at the earliest possible 
date. The minimum conditions for a standard institu- 
tion requires fifteen units for admission; four-year 
courses, with 120 semester hours for graduation; li- 
brary of 5,000 volumes; laboratory equipment to the 
value of $8,000; eight professors of accredited scholastic 
attainment, teaching no more than sixteen to eighteen 
hours a week, and giving full time to college work; 
and an endowment fund of $200,000. In some states 
the endowment required is $500,000. 

3. <A third policy is to make our schools distinctively 
Christian, with Christian teachers, and the maintenance 
of a thoroughly Christian atmosphere, with the fires of 
evangelism and missionary zeal aglow. 


Student Help. As the state aids its teachers 
in preparing for the service they render, and as 
the nation trains its soldiers, so it is but right 
that the church should aid those who are in 
training for Christian service. An education 
fund, which should be greatly increased, pro- 
vides help for students by means of loans and 
scholarships, under the supervision of the Board 
of Education. During the past ten years, 535 
student ministers and missionaries have been 
aided to the amount of over $52,000. 

“It is a matter of increasing amazement,” 
says, William E. Schell, general secretary of 
education, “how money can be translated into 


Christian Education 109 


consecrated hearts and intellects, and then func- 
tion through Christlike personalities in preach- 
ing the wonderful word of life, which, when 
heartily received and diligently obeyed, makes 
the violent man gentle, the drunken man sober, 
the unchaste man pure, and the miserly man 
generous; fills lives with hope and sunshine 
that otherwise would be filled with darkness and 
despair.” 


Our Theological Seminary. 


onebrake Theological Sem- 
inary is the answer to the 
fathers’ daring. Not only 
in pioneer days did our 
Church push into new and 
wide areas where there were 
big spiritual human needs 
to be met; in the last gener- 
ation our Church has shown 
her faith by participating in 
the Christian conquest of 
large cities between Buffalo and Philadelphia, 
on the east, and Seattle and Los Angeles on the 
west; abroad such large centers as Freetown, 
Ponce, Tokyo, Canton, and Manila have been 
entered. 

People living around about these churches 
have been drawn into them. Previously many 
of them had known little of the United Brethren 





110 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Church. These new members and the children of 
the entire denomination naturally expect their 
church to move forward. Then there are hun- 
dreds of Life Work Recruits who are now look- 
ing to the United Brethren Church for the train- 
ing needed to fit them for lives of self-sacrificing 
service for God and the church. 

The Seminary Exists to Meet these Expecta- 
tions. The one purpose of Bonebrake Theo- 





Bonebrake Tkeological Seminary Dorm‘tory. 


logical Seminary has been to help fit young men 
and women as Christian leaders. The measure 
of success attained can be judged by the fact 
that more than 1,200 students have been in at- 
tendance, of whom 606 have graduated. Among 
those graduated have been four bishops and 
fourteen other general officers, eight presidents 
of colleges, seventy eight college professors, and 
fifty missionaries. Fourteen of our present con- 


Christian Education pel 


ference superintendents and four of the superin- 
tendents abroad have been prepared at Bone- 
brake. 


A Greater Seminary for a Greater Church. 
Eighty-five men and women, married and sin- 
gle, are this year enrolled at the Seminary. This 
group creates the needs that were foreseen 
many years ago for dormitory provisions, not 
only for the single men, but for young women 
and married students. After tedious delays, 
owing to war and post-war conditions, on a 
campus of thirty-five acres, dormitories for these 
different groups and an adequate administration 
building and a heating plant have been erected. 
These furnish excellent facilities for the largest 
possible development and training of our future 
leaders. 


The Board of Administration acting under 
the authority of the General Conference, has ar- 
ranged for the canvass of the entire Church to 
secure funds to pay for the buildings just 
erected, and to properly endow* the Seminary. 
The. total amount sought is a million dollars, 
- approximately two cents per member per week 
for the next four weeks. The Church cannot do 
a better thing than to provide adequately for 
those who are to lead our forces from victory 
to victory as the Church grows to a membership 
of 500,000 and then to a million. 


112 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


United Brethren Literature. 

“Give heed to reading” was the exhoration 
of Paul to a young man. Reading stimulates 
thought and is an effective means of religious 
development and service. 


Printing Establishment and Office Building. 
The removal of the printing establishment in 1853 
from Circleville, Ohio, where it was first located 
in the basement of the United Brethren Church, 
to a central location in Dayton, Ohio, then a 
town of about 11,000 population, providentially 
brought to our denomination real estate which 
has increased in value and importance with the 
growth of the city of Dayton. 

The time came when the Publishing House 
corner became too valuable to be used as a site 
for a printing plant. Accordingly, the Board of 
Trustees relocated the plant on Fiith: Street, 
four squares away, and there erected a modern, 
well-equipped printing building. 

On the central corner at Fourth and Main 
Streets thus vacated, a twenty-one story office 
building has been erected, with a valuation of 
$1,500,000. The income from this splendid of- 
fice building above what is required for capital 
investment, equipment, and current expenses 
will be devoted to the welfare of the needy itin- 
erant ministers and their families, in accordance 
with the express purpose of the leaders of the 


Christian Education Es 


church in starting the printing establishment 
more than ninety years ago. 

Our Church Periodicals. Ninety years ago 
the United Brethren Church began the publica- 
tion of its chief religious paper, the “Religious 
Telescope.” In all those years it has been a 
means of culture and inspiration, and a strong 
factor in promoting the cause of Christ and a 
denominational consciousness. 

The “Children’s Friend,’ which was started 
seventy years ago, has developed into two papers, 
pieiem>oys: iriends and — Phe Girls’ Friend:” 

The importance of cultivating the reading 
habit in early youth, and of giving to the little 
boys and girls ireligious instruction, led in 1876 
to the formation of a paper now called “Our 
Little Folks.” 

To provide for the reading of a large group 
above the age of boys and girls “The Watch- 
word” was authorized and first published in 
1893. 

A missionary publication, “The Evangel,” is- 
sued by the Women’s Missionary Association, 
has been cultivating the missionary spirit of 
United Blrethren for more than forty-two years. 

To aid the Sunday schools in Bible instruc- 
tion excellent helps began to be issued in 1873. 
These have been multiplied and adapted to 
meet the need from the Primary to the Adult 
Departments. The “Otterbein Teacher” is our 


114 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


splendid magazine for the Sunday-school teach- 
ers. 

Thus, the United Brethren Church periodicals 
have increased from one to fourteen, and have 
reached an aggregate circulation of approxi- 
mately 536,000 copies. 


Book Literature. The United Brethren print- 
ing house has been issuing an increasingly large 
number of helpful Christian books in the fields 
of biography, missions, stewardship, Sunday 
school and Young People’s work, Christian edu- 
cation, and other departments of church activ- 
ity. Through these much has been accomplish- 
ed in moulding the thinking and actions of both 
ministers and laymen. 


Partners in Christian Education. 


The Church’s chief educational agencies de- 
scribed in this chapter, the Sunday school, the 
Christian Endeavor society, the Colleges, the 
Theological Seminary, and the Publishing in- 
terests, all have had much to do in informing, 
training, and inspiring our United Brethren peo- 
ple. They hold a fundamental place in the 
Church’s life and mission in the world. Every 
member of the church should be an active part- 
ner in making these agencies effective by giv- 
ing through the benevolent budget and by co- 
operation in every way possible. 


GrAP BR Vv 
United Brethren in Philanthropic Work 


HE church has two doors, one to go in 

to worship and one to go out to serve. 

The heart of the religious life is “faith 

active in love.’ The parable of the Good Sa- 

maritan on the Jericho road and the judgment 

scene in which the social application of Chris- 

tianity is visualized, are the church’s charter 
for eleemosynary work. 

The Good Samaritan spirit must be exempli- 
fied by the church in a positive way. While it 
is ridding the Jericho road of its robbers—dis- 
ease, intemperance, ignorance, injustice, oppres- 
sion of childhood, poverty, and war—it must 
sympathetically bind the wounds of those who 
have fallen from any cause whatsoever, and pay 
the bill for the care of the needy. 

Philanthropic Activities. Two important de- 
partments of the United Brethren Church ex- 
press the Good Samaritan phase of the Christian 
religion, the homes for the orphans and depend- 
ent aged people, and the fund for retired minis- 
ters and ministers’ widows and orphans. 

The United Brethren Publishing House, 
though not primarily a philanthropic institution, 
by devoting its profits to the worn out itinerant 
preachers and preachers’ widows, according to 


116 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


its charter, is contributing to an important 
philanthropic end. 


Homes and Orphanages. 


Quincy Orphanage and Home. This institu- 
tion was founded out of gratitude for a home 
provided two orphans. J. H. Kitzmiller and his 
wife had been left orphans in childhood. Both 
had been adopted into the home of a farmer, 
who lived at Quincy, Pennsylvania. When 





United Brethren Orphanage and Home, Quincy, Pa. 


they grew up these orphans married. Later, 
they inherited the farm on which they had been 
reared. 

In memory of. the kindness shown them in 
childhood, and out of gratitude, they dedicated 
the farm and themselves to the founding of a 
home for orphans, in the name of the United 
Brethren Church. 


More than Twenty Years of Service. The 
home at Quincy was opened for the admission 
of children in 1903, under the superintendency 


Philanthropic Work 117 


of the founders. The farm, 163 acres of good 
land, with the usual buildings, all dedicated to 
the purpose of providing a home for orphans, 
was the foundation of the institution, which has 
increased to embrace 255 acres, with twelve 
buildings, and having assets in grounds, build- 
ings, machinery, stock, and equipment, of $270,- 
Q0O. This acreage includes the addition of 
twelve acres, purchased some years ago, and an 
adjoining farm, purchased more recently by 
Peter Newcomer, for $10,400, and donated to 
the home, known as the Peter Newcomer Memo- 
rial Farm. 
During the twenty years of the beneficent 
work of this orphanage, 350 children have been 
admitted, and of these, eighty, having reached 
the age of eighteen, have been sent out—grad- 
uated would not be an inappropriate word to 
make their way in the world. They have been fed, 
clothed, sheltered, educated, and trained for 
useful occupations. Their character and useful- 
ness are such as to gratify the founders and 
supporters of the home. Of the 350 children 
received, ninety-five were released before they 
had reached the age limit of eighteen, satisfac- 
tory homes having been provided for them by 
relatives. 
Training the Children. At the end of the 
twenty years, 120 boys and girls are being cared 
for. These children are given religious train- 


118 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


ing, educated in a well-equipped school, and 
trained industrially. Training for useful occupa- 
tions requires varied industries, and entails an 
expense that the Church should cheerfully pro- 
vide. On-a farm of several hundred acres, soil 
tillage, stock raising, fruit growing, dairying, 
poultry raising, and other phases of farming, 
give training for many boys in the basic indus- 
try of the land. In addition, the home at Quincy 
has a bakery which in one year sold over 
$15,000 worth of bread. In this, under expert 
direction, members of the home family learn the 
baking trade. In the industrial building, man- 
ual training is given in varied lines. Every 
phase of housekeeping is learned by the chil- 
dren. A band affords training for its members, 
and provides appreciated music. Regular church 
services, with Sunday school and other training 
societies, minister to the religious needs of all 
in the home. 


Colestock Home for Old People. A number 
of years ago a home for aged people was estab- 
lished at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, by 
Z. A. Colestock. This institution, known as the 
Colestock Old People’s Home, was removed to 
Quincy, and merged with the’ orphanage, con- 
stituting the United Brethren Orphanage and 
Home. The Colestock old people’s building, 
erected at a cost of $28,000, was occupied first 
in March, 1915, when eleven persons found a 


Philanthropic Work 119 


home there. Seven years later, this number 
‘had increased to forty-two, including the found- 
er, who went to glory from the home in his 
ninety-ninth year. Additional room for the old 
people is greatly needed, and a number of cot- 
tages are to be erected. 


The orphanage and home at Quincy was rec- 
ognized as an institution of the United Breth- 
rene@hurchsby «the General Conference in 1909, 
and the East Bishop’s district was designated 
as 1ts cooperating territory. The institution is 
maintained by the gifts of the people. 


The Otterbein Home. On a tract of land 
embracing 4,005 acres, with nearly two score 
buildings, some of large proportions, is the Ot- 
terbein Home, of the United Brethren Church, 
a home for orphans and dependent aged people. 


This large landed estate was the property of 
the Shakers, a religious body whose members 
lived as one large family, all working and hold- 
ing the property in common. This family of 
Shakers, known as the Union Village Family, 
near Lebanon, Ohio, at one time numbered 
about seven hundred members, and the farm 
and buildings were on a scale to support such a 
family. 

A Vision. In 1909, J.M.Phillippi, then associate 
editor of the Religious Telescope, accompanied 
Granville Hixson, foreman of the printing de- 


120 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


partment of the United Brethren Publishing 
House, to the Shaker village to visit Mr. Hix- 
son’s aunt. The Shaker family had decreased 
at that time to twenty-six. Editor Phillippi 
saw the commodiots buildings, suitable for 
homing many people, and saw the extensive 
farm of fertile soil and large pasturage facilities, 
and he saw how all these could be made to pro- 
vide a home for orphans and old people. The 
vision possessed him. He enlisted others, not- 
ably W. R. Funk. Others were added to the 
list of those who believed the United Brethren 
Church should here establish an orphanage and 
home. 

The proposition to buy the estate was entered 
into by the United Brethren Church at the ex- 
ceptionally favorable price of $325,000, the pur- 
pose to make it a philanthropic institution hav- 
ing the sympathetic interest of the Shaker peo- 
ple. The property came into the possession of 
the United Brethren Church on March 5, 1913. 

Ten Years of Beneficent Work. The first 
admissions to the Otterbein Home were in 
April and May, 1913, when one woman and six 
children became members of the family. Dur- | 
ing the first ten years of its’ history, 300 boys 
and girls have found a home within its build- 
ings and in the hearts of its managers, with J. 
R. King and Mrs. King as superintendent and 
matron. 


Philanthropic Work 121 


Of the three hundred, sixteen have been 
honorably discharged, having reached the age 
of eighteen; fourteen of the sixteen have had a 
full high-school course. At the end of the ten 
years, 172 children are in the home. 





Glimpses of Life at the Otterbein Home. 


Aged People Cared For. During the first ten 
years of the existence of this home, 140 aged 
persons, including twelve ministers and seven 
ministers’ wives, from thirteen states, found 
refuge in its comfortable rooms. More than 
fifty have ended their days at the home, and 


122 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


from its consecrated buildings and beds have 
gone to occupy a building not made with hands, 
where old age, sickness, and death are unknown. 
At the end of ten years, the family of aged peo- 
ple numbers seventy. The home has not had 
one-tenth the money necessary to answer all 
the calls for care of aged people. 

Training the Children. The children of the 
Otterbein Home are given religious training in 
family worship, and in Sunday school, Chris- 
tian Endeavor, and other training agencies of 
the church at the home. The school, conducted 
in a well-equipped building which cost $80,000, 
provides the grade and high-school courses. Of 
those who have graduated from the high school 
and gone out from the institution, a majority 
entered Otterbein College, with the purpose of 
working their way in obtaining a college educa- 
tion. In interscholastic oratorical and athletic 
contests, the Otterbein Home pupils have won 
a high percent and a name for good sportsman- 
ship. 

The training of the girls and boys for useful 
industry is provided in the household work of 
the big family and in conducting the extensive 
farm operations. The boys are given valuable 
training in the development, of high records in 
the pure-bred cattle on the farm. To provide a 
wider range of industrial training the home 
needs a school of arts and crafts, 


Philanthropic Work 123 


This home, as a United Brethren philanthrop- 
ic institution, was started without a dollar. 
Faith in the cause and in the people of the 
United Brethren Church was its only asset. At 
the end of ten years, the institution has net as- 
sets amounting to $450,000. 

The Baker Home for Retired Ministers. The 
Colonel R. M. Baker Home for Retired Minis- 
ters owes its existence to the munificent gener- 





Views of the Baker Home, Puente California. 


osity of Colonel R. M. Baker and his wife, Mrs. 
Sarah A. Baker, Monrovia, California. Having 
been prospered, and desiring to assist worthy 
ministers in old age, they provided for establish- 
ing this home, which was incorporated in 1911. 
It is located in the Puente Valley, twenty-six 
miles east of Los Angeles, California, on a 


124 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


twenty-acre. site. Colonel Baker gave a check 
for $4,500 to Bishop W. M. Bell, then the Bishop 
on the Pacific coast, with instructions to buy 
fifteen acres, on condition that the owners, 
Messrs. Rowland and Foster, should donate five | 
acres for the purpose of establishing a home. 
The tract of land, called Otterbein, occupies a 
commanding position. 

Colonel and Mrs. Baker began this work 
with a donation of $10,000, which was later in- 
creased by the gift of a valuable property in the 
city of Los Angeles. Thus far this property 
has been the home’s principal source of income, 
and the institution stands as a monument to the 
thoughtful generosity of the donors. 

Of the twenty-acre plat, one-half is planted 
in oranges. ‘Ten acres of the site are reserved 
for buildings, small gardens, -deciduous trees, 
and vines. Already six inexpensive cottages 
have been built, and two substantial modern 
flats, each with two three-room apartments. 
Seventeen people find here homes in their old 
age. 

The conferences directly cooperating with 
this home are those of the Pacific Coast District. - 
Several years ago plans were adopted looking 
to the establishing of an orphanage in connec- 
tion with the home. A campaign has_ been 
started to provide a fund of at least $100,000 
with which to establish and operate a dormitory 


Philanthropic Work 125 


and an orphanage. At the end of twelve years 
of the institution’s existence, it has assets of 
over $107,000. The ministers enjoying the bless- 
ings of this home are from Kansas, Nebraska, 
Wrevon, -and -Galifornias* Mrcand Mrs, L. .O. 
Moon are in charge of the home. 

Support of the Benevolent Homes. ‘The three 
benevolent homes of the United Brethren Church 
are dependent upon the gifts of the people for 
adequate maintenance and enlargement. The land 
owned by each is a valuable asset, and will yield 
food for the increasing families. But much in ad- 
dition to food must be provided—shelter, clothing, 
schooling, and religious privileges. Each home 
is filled to the limit, and additional buildings 
must be provided. The erection of buildings 
will require large sums. A building at any one 
of the homes is a worthy objective for gifts and 
bequests. 

The United Brethren people must become 
actual partners in providing money for the sup- 
port of the people in the different homes in the 
spirit of the Good Samaritan, who did not hesi- 
tate to. pay out money at the hotel for the care 
of a needy person. 

Through the Christmas offerings, every mem- 
ber of the United Brethren Church, throughout 
all its borders, may enter into partnership with 
Christ and with one another in actualizing the 
Good Samaritan phase of religion. 


126 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


Ministerial Pension and Annuity. 


O God, thou hast taught me from my youth; 

And hitherto I have declared thy wondrous 
works. 

Yea, even when I am old and-~gray-headed, 
O-. God, forsake me not.—Psa. 71:17, 18. 


“The forgotten man” is a term often applied 
to the preacher who through age or incapacity 
is retired from active ministerial service. “Laid 
on the shelf” is a grim expression for a situa- 
tion which every preacher faces—put up on the 
shelf, out of the way, and largely forgotten. 


Proper provision for the disabled and aged 
servants of the Church is but the application of 
the. ‘gospek.. H.-H Baish,. secretany greene 
Teachers’ Pension organization of Pennsylvan- 
ia, a layman who has. given -expert service in 
developing the Pension and Annuity Plan for 
United Brethren preachers, says: 


“It is difficult to explain why the Christian Church, 
which has always proclaimed the gospel of social jus- 
tice, and has always been ready to commend employers 
who provide for the care of their employees in case of 
disability and old age, should be among the last to put 
into practice its own preaching in this respect. Aside 
from the question of social just’ce employers have | 
learned that it pays in dollars and cents to relieve the © 
workers in any industry of the fear of want in disabil- 
ity or old age. No employee can render the most effi- 
cient service if he is constantly harassed by the 
thought that he and his dependents will be left without 
an income when he is deprived of his earn‘ng power by 
reason of disability or advancing age.” 


Philanthropic Work 





The United Brethren Building, Dayton, Ohio. 
Income to be Devoted to Preachers’ Aid. 


128 Partners m the Conquering Cause 


Providing for the old age of ministers is not 
a matter of charity; it is justice. . “Religion is 
the one essential industry in the world.” ‘The 
direction of that industry is in the hands of 
ministers. A community without the minister 
would be without worship, without sacraments, 
without the sacred marriage ceremony, without 
a message. of hope at the grave. How are the 
men who conduct this essential industry cared 
for? The chairman of the Presbyterian Com- 
mittee which is raising a $15,000,000 pension 
fund, says: 

“We give them hand to mouth living. We give them 
what amounts in many cases to grinding poverty. -We 
give them exhausting labor without making adequate 
provision when the labor shall have exhausted then. 


We hang the dread of old age like a millstone about 
their necks. 


Making a just and charitable provision for 
the disability period of ministers on a-service 
basis 1s one of the last undertakings of the Pro- 
testant Church, and the United Brethren denom- 
ination, is somewhat behind most of the other 
great churches. Other denominations have al- 
ready provided endowment funds ranging from 
$160,000 to $17,000,000, and pay an average 
pension ranging from $183 to $500. 

The preachers have led heroically in carrying 
to success various necessary financial cam- 
paigns in the Church and the next great under- 
taking should be for the Ministerial Pension 


Philanthropic Work 129 


Fund. Perhaps this has been neglected until 
now because its benefits are designed for the 
preachers, who, by the nature of their occupa- 
tion, are accustomed to looking out for others 
rather than for themselves. It is time for the 
laymen to see that justice is done. 


Preachers’ Aid Funds. Some of the stronger 
conferences years ago established Conference 
Preachers’ Aid funds for the help of their own 
members. This worthy effort in the conferences, 
however, left unprotected the majority of the 
ministers of the denomination, those who serve 
in the smaller conferences, which have been un- 
able to create aid funds. 

The profits of the United Brethren Printing 
Establishment, by the terms of its incorporation, 
are applied to the benefit of traveling and worn- 
out itinerant preachers and their widows and 
orphans. 


Pension and Annuity Plan. Plans for minis- 
erial aid of Church-wide scope had been con- 
sidered by several General Conferences. ‘The 
General Conference of 1917, in a resolution pre- 
sented by A. R. Ayers, took definite action look- 
ing to the creation of a fund that would afford 
relief for ministers anywhere in the denomina- 
tion, and that would be paid on the basis of 
service. Under the direction of the Board of 
Administration, a careful study was made of 
the ministerial relief plans of the other denom- 


130 Partners in the Conquering Cause 





Retired United Brethren Itinerants. 


inations, and also of the schools, business cor- 
porations, and the Government. The results 
of the study of the committee appointed is 
the Ministerial Pension and Annuity Plan of 
the United Brethren Church, which was ap- 
proved by the General Conference of 1921, and 
now is in effect. 

Features of the Plan. All regularly ordained 
ministers and missionaries of the United Breth- 
ren Church are eligible in this plan, : 

A Church service annuity fund is to be pro- 
vided. This fund will be created primarily by 
endowment. The income of this endowment, 
together with the money raised for the pension 
fund through the benevolence budget of the 
Church, and such other money, gifts, and be- 
quests as shall be given for the support of the 
Pension and Annuity Plan, shall provide the 
Church service annuity, the maximum annuity 
being $400 a year. It is estimated that it will 
require the income of an endowment fund of 


Philanthropic Work 131 





Retired United Brethren Itinerants. 


$1,000,000 to pay the Church’s share of the pen- 
sion proposed. 

There are two classes of members, contribu- 
tory and non-contributory. 

Non-contributory members are those who, by 
reason of age and service, are exempt from con- 
tributing to the fund. The maximum pension 
that may be paid to the non-contributory mem- 
ber is $400, and until an adequate amount is 
provided, it will be only such portion of the 
$400 as funds will permit. 

The contributory member is one who pays an- 
nually a sufficient amount to purchase an an- 
nuity of $100 at the age of superannuation re- 
tirement, which is sixty-eight years. The 
amount to be paid is actuarily computed, and 
guarantees to the contributing member an an- 
nuity of $100, which he receives in addition to 
the annuity provided through the Church serv- 
ice annuity fund. The maximum pension for a 
contributory member is $500. 


Loe Partners in the Conquering Cause 


A disability pension is paid a member who 
becomes incapacitated after he has served the 
Church at least five years. 


In the case of the death of a member a pen- 
sion is paid to his widow and minor child or 
children. 


Principles of the Pension Plan. The pension 
is based on. the recognition of two. principles, 
relationship and service. It is this basis that 
prevails in aid systems in the business, educa- 
tional, and ecclesiastical world. A pension is 
the recognition of service rendered, as by a 
soldier, an employee, a teacher, or a minister. 


Furthermore, the plan enables the minister 
to participate in the creation of a fund that will 
protect his widow or children, or himself in the 
case of his disability or retirement. As a con- 
-tributory member each minister is creating for 
himself an annuity of $100 a year. The Church 
service fund is paid to contributory and non- 
contributory members alike, on the basis of the 
income available for that purpose, but the con- 
tributory member is assured of his annuity of 
$100. | | 

The plan is Church-wide in its operations, 
providing for the preachers and missionaries in 
the smallest conferences as well as in the. larg- 
est, thus contributing to the unity of the de- 
nomination. A minister can transfer his mem. 


Philanthropic Work 1353 


bership to a mission conference without Jeop- 
ardizing his protection. 


The pension plan provides for the payment 
of a certain amount annually for an indefinite 
number of years. This is the kind of aid the 
aged minister or the minister’s widow stands 
most in need of. 


Pension Plan in Operation. The Preachers’ 
Pension and Annuity Plan became operative 
January 1, 1924, at which time a permanent en- 
dowment of $30,000 had been raised as a 
step toward an adequate fund. The income from 
this is supplemented by contributions through 
the benevolence budget. The earnings of the 
permanent fund and the amount received 
through the benevolence budget determine the 
amount paid as pensions. This will increase as 
the funds increase until the maximum pension 
is reached. 


Financing the Fund. The immediate and 
urgent task before the United Brethren Churches 
is to raise in full the benevolent quota for the 
current operating work of all departments and 
institutions. The pension plan will then receive 
$25,000 with which to render immediate help. 
The next step must be the securing of $1,000,000 
endowment for the Pension and Annuity Fund. 
The Church was late in starting a pension plan 
for its ministers. It now has a splendid oppor- 


134 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


tunity to make amends for its delay by finish- 
ing this task with promptness, and thus provid- 
ing for the aged and needy ministers. 


This is conspicuously a matter for the laymen 
to take up in behalf of the old preachers. The 
laymen see that the church property is protect- 
ed by insurance; they will also see that the 
church’s greatest asset, its ministry, is protected 
against the fear of disability and old age, with 
resultant loss of efficiency, power, and service. 


Providing a proper pension for the old 
preacher by the Church and the creating of an 
annuity by his cooperation with his comrades 
in the laity, permits the aged preacher to accept 
superafinuation with the satisfaction of having 
earned a protected retirement. 


“And are we glad to have the burden lifted, 
That quiet by the river we may sit? 

Since He the load to younger shoulders shifted 
We've kept the faith—now let us rest a bit. 


“Yes, we are old, O Lord, but not forsaken, 
The twilight hour is fairest of the day; 

One glowing hope remains secure, unshaken— 
If sunset comes, can dawn be far away?” 


Sle Woe BSA ee 


DISCOVERING OUR POSSIBILITIES AS 
PARTNERS 


HERE are delightful surprises for those 
who enter the partnership with Christ. 
When the Seventy (Luke 10) entered into this 
partnership and began to give out the message 
of their Lord they made a wonderful discovery. 
They discovered that while they testified, Christ, 
though unseen by them, was empowering their 
message and casting out evil spirits. 


ieuwasea eiate, Satistyinge experience. . “The 
Seventy returned with joy,” and this is the only 
occasion mentioned in the Bible when Christ re- 
joiced. He saw much more than“did the Seven- 
ty. He saw “Satan fallen.” Christ’s plan to de- 
stroy the works of the devil through the testi- 
mony of his followers had been tried, and it 
worked. The victory would be complete when 
the testimony became universal. 

Jesus then gave this far-reaching promise to 
the Seventy, and to all who would enter this 
partnership: “Behold I give unto you power 

. over all the power of the enemy.” 


Secret of Growth and Service. Comradeship 
with Christ in the evangelization of the world 
is the only way to find and save the lost, and it 


136 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


is the only way for the Christian to ‘reach his 
highest development and joy. 

The lives of Paul, Savonarola, Luther, John 
Kknox, Calvin, Wesley, Otterbein, Finney, Jerry 
McCauley, Spurgeon, Moody, and -a host of 
others speak of the miracle-working power of 
Christ, in taking men from every condition and 
station in life, and in making them channels of 
blessings for the world. 


Paul the Ideal Partner. When Paul accepted 
Christ as his Lord, and became a co-worker 
with him, a marvelous partnership followed. 
Christ put into it his atoning death, his resur- 
rected life, his intercessions, his all. Paul, who 
said he was not worthy to be called an apostle, 
after being changed by Christ, put into the 
partnership his abounding energy, trained mind, 
earnest praying, and a life-time of sacrificial 
service. Paul incarnated the cause of Christ. 
He could say, “For this cause I bow my knees,” 
and “for this cause I suffer.” 

In the midst of hunger, perils, and imprison- 
ments he declared triumphantly, “I can do all_ 
things in him that strengtheneth me.” He was 
ready to preach, to suffer, to die for Jesus and 
the Conquering Cause. The partnership was 
well nigh perfect. 

What Christ did for Paul is a pattern of what 
He is willing to do for us. 


Discovering Our Possibilities ba 


Some Results of our Partnership. Doubtless 
1,200,000 persons have accepted Christ*as the 
result of the work of United Brethren ministers 
and laymen since that historic meeting when 
Otterbein embraced Boehm, saying “We are 
brethren.” Probably 800,000 of these have 
finished their course on earth and are now with 
the family of God in heaven. 


UNITED BRETHREN 
GROWTH IN MESMBERSHIP 


375,000 
370,000 
365000 
360,000 
355,000 
390,000 


1545000 


340,000 
1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 





There are 3,351 United Brethren churches at 
work in thirty-one annual conferences in the 
United States, and in the five conferences abroad. 

The members of the United Brethren church 
are supporting 873 conference and home mis- 
sionaries, and 74 foreign missionaries, and 222 


138 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


native leaders in our fields abroad. The sun 
never sets on United Brethren workers. 

By means of this combined work United 
Brethren during 1923, won to Christ and the 
church 22,735 persons; during 1922, they won 
28,687, and in 1921, 31,658; a total for the three 
years of 83,080 souls. After deducting all losses 
there was a net increase in members of 28,307, 
bringing the membership for the denomination 


to 379,314. 


Increase in Gifts for All Purposes. 


' $3,102,811 
(GL) gagprasseree pene areca apes nearer eee RR eR ee ENS 
$6,315,993 


United Brethren as partners contributed dur- 
ing 1923 for the support of their pastors, local 
church expenses, buildings, repairs, etc., $4,931,- 
344; and for missions, Christian education and 
all other. benevolences, $1,384,649, making a 
total for all purposes of $6,315,993. 

In recent years great progress has been made 
in providing buildings and equipment. The 
value of church houses and _ parsonages in- 
creased, during the past eight years, from $14,- 
736,076 to $23,790,593. The total net property 
value of our churches, parsonages, schools, 
homes, and printing establishment aggregates 
$25,820,670. In addition there are $2,142,548 in 


endowment and loan funds. 


Discovering Our Possibilities 139 


A Summons to Full Enlistment. It will be 
apparent to all who have read the first five 
chapters of this little book that God led our 
ministers and laymen step by step through the 
past century in the expanding work of our de- 






78 CENTS 


FOR 


vg OURSELVES 


CONGRE - 
GATIONAL 22. CENTS 
FO 













The Church Dollar. 


nomination in evangelism, creation, and publi- 
cation of Christian literature, conference mis- 
sions, home missions, church erection, foreign 
missions, our colleges and theological seminary, 
the Sunday School and Christian Endeavor 
work, the Women’s Missionary Association, the 
homes and orphanages, and the preachers’ pen- 
sion bureau. 

All these activities have been kept in oper- 
ation through gifts made in local churches to 


140 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


meet the benevolent budget, and through special 
offerings for specific causes. 

By means of these agencies every member of 
the church can continue the work begun, and 
carry out literally for our generation the com- 
mands and teachings of Christ to evangelize, 
teach, and do the service of a good Samaritan. 

With our splendid organization, equipment, 
and trained leaders; with the experiences of the 
past as an asset, and the large unreaped har-_ 
vests all about us, the United Brethren church 
ought to advance by 1950 to at least one million 
members. Will anything short of this satisfy 
our Lord, any of us? 

The United Brethren church cannot have a 
million communicant members twenty-six years 
from now by keeping her eyes on “numbers,” 
“programs,’ and “budgets,” helpful as these 
may be; but more than a million can be attained 
if we all keep in mind Jesus Christ and fix as 
a goal, “every member an active partner with 
Christ in evangelizing the world.” Recruiting 
partners from among the inactive members now 
enrolled in the churches is one of our big tasks. 

Christ’s School for. Training Partners. Unit- 
ing with the church is not an end in itself. It 
is but admission into the school of Christ. 
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed 
on him, if ye continue in my word then are ye 
my disciples indeed.” 


Discovering Our Possibiltties 141 


The School of Witnessing. Every Christian 
is to make Jesus known as Savior and Lord. 
“Ye shall be my witnesses,” is as binding upon 
laymen as upon ministers. We witness through 
our personalities, our acts, and’ our words, and 
Christ works when we testify. Many souls are 
won as a direct result of testimony. An in- 
creasing number of ministers are training per- 
sonal witnessing groups in their churches, and 
like Otterbein, are expecting decisions for Christ 
at the reular church service, as well as in revival 
meetings. Am I finding my possibilities in 
Christ’s school of witnessing? 


Growth in Number of Tithing Stewards 
1919 7,000 a 
1923 21118 =a ROS See Leen ea 


The School of Stewardship. In accepting 
Christ we acknowledge that we are bought with 
a price and are not our own. Constantly our 
living, working, and giving should be an 
acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord, and that 
we are his stewards. This partnership with 
Christ, in the making and spending of money, 
breaks the power of self-indulgence and covet- . 
ousness, and opens rich fountains of life to the 
faithful steward. Many United Brethren are 
enrolling as tithing stewards. Have I entered 
into my privileges as a Christian steward? 


142 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


The School of Prayer. Before going back to 
the Father, Jesus gave his disciples many les- 
sons in the school of prayer. He said to them, 
“He that believeth on me, the works that I do 
shall he do also; and greater works than these 
shall he do; because I go unto the Father. And 
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will 
I do.’ Christ works when we pray as ke cannct 
work when we do not pray. All the great 
achievements of the Kingdom have been ac-. 
complished through prayer. It offers to every 
Christian a boundless field for world service. 

Christ ‘himself did much of his work through 
prayer. Intercession is his chief work today in 
heaven. Great is the privilege of being a part- 
ner with him in intercession. Is not God calling 
us, as he called the Christians before the great 
revival of 1800, to go apart with him, and 
through fasting and prayer claim another great 
awakening and advance for his Kingdom? Am 
I willing to work with Christ as a partner in 
prayer? | | 

The School of Obedience. Jesus said of his 
obedience to the Father, “My meat is to do the ~ 
will of him that sent me,” and “I do always 
those things that please him.” He linked ac- 
tion with instruction. “Ye are, my friends, if 
ye do whatsoever I command you.” ‘There can 
be no real partnership without obedience. Does 
my obedience make me a helpful co-worker? 


Discovering Our Possibilities 143 


What for the Future? Christian leaders 
rightly took advantage of the unsettled condi- 
tions following the Revolutionary War for a 
powerful, sustained advance of vital Christian- 
ity in the United States. 








Partnership with Him is Our Richest Privilege. 


144 Partners in the Conquering Cause 


As we think of their marvelous achievements 
amid difficulties such as we never faced; as we 
think of the spiritual enrichment that has come 
to us through their faith and sacrifices; as we 
think of the vast increase of wealth and material 
comforts. which we enjoy today; as we think of 
the distressing spiritual and material needs of 
the peoples of many countries, and the exalted 
position of America among the nations, should 
not these things challenge every one of us to a 
whole-hearted, joyous dedication of .ourselves 
and our property to Christ, that his redeeming 
love and power may heal the open sores of the 
world, and that there may come to all mankind 
the priceless privileges and blessings which were 
brought to us by the faith and devotion of those 
who have gone before ust 


“OQ matchless hohdur, all aasolene 

High privilege surpassing thought, tip 
That thou shouldst call me, Lord, to be 
Linked in work-fellowship with thee; 
To carry out thy wondrous plan, | Si 
To bear thy message to man; a 

In trust with Christ’s own word of grace 

To every soul of human race.” 


We must work the OLS of hin that sent me 
while it is day: the night cometh.—Jesus.(R.V.) 








